Credit unions respond to another COVID-19 appeal

THE JAMAICA Co-operative Credit Union League (JCCUL), on behalf of its member credit unions, has again responded to a call to action in the country’s response to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic on the island.

It came in the form of providing financial support to a project being undertaken by the Jamaica Social Stock Exchange (JSSE) and Mona-Tech Engineering Services to repair eight ventilators for use in the fight against the virus.

On May 13, JCCUL donated $500,000 to support the project, which has a budget of $3.5 million. JCCUL Group CEO Robin Levy said: “We are a people-based organisation founded in the co-operative philosophy of persons helping each other. So, when we were approached by the Jamaica Social Stock Exchange, we thought it was important to take a deliberate step and make this investment.”

He added, “We believe that the Jamaica Social Stock Exchange is a suitable vehicle for raising capital for well-needed enterprises which are sustainable. It has a future in this country to assist with the upliftment of community-based entrepreneurship. The JCCUL is committed to a long-term relationship with the JSSE because our strategies are aligned around the development of people.”

PLEASED WITH FEEDBACK

In response, managing director of the Jamaica Stock Exchange Marlene Street Forrest noted, “The JSE and the JSSE are pleased with the response to the appeal we made to provide support in this way. There will be persons who will need the assistance of ventilators in the hospitals. This is a serious situation for us all; it is a social issue.”

Ventilators are critical equipment needed in the care of patients in the advanced stages of COVID-19 infection. Hence, the JSSE selected Mona-Tech Engineering Services in the Department of Engineering at The UWI,

Mona, to benefit under the COVID-19 Relief Fund. This organisation is on a drive to repair malfunctioning ventilators and other biomedical equipment desperately needed to treat persons affected by the novel coronavirus.

Robin Levy (right), Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union’s group chief executive officer, donates toiletries, water and a TV set to the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation’s recently established homeless shelter. The donation was made on behalf of the credit union movement under the People Helping People programme.