Jamalco donates mattresses
HALSE HALL, Clarendon — Jamalco has donated 62 full-sized mattresses to residents in several communities of Clarendon and Manchester.
The mattresses were handed over along with bedding and supplies to improve the lives of the elderly and vulnerable in the bauxite/alumina company’s operating areas, a news release said.
“As a company, we have a responsibility for communities that surround us,” explained Corporate Relations Manager Donna Marie Brooks.
“We are committed to supporting the vulnerable, including the young, the elderly and indigents, once they are in need. Assessments were conducted by the community relations officers who selected those most in need across our operating areas,” she added.
The project is an extension of Jamalco’s Indigent Support Programme (JISP), which reaches out to the vulnerable, providing them with groceries and basic personal supplies monthly. Mattresses have been delivered to residents in Harmons and Mile Gully in Manchester, Mocho in northern Clarendon, as well as Port and Railroad, closer to the alumina refinery in Halse Hall.
Recipients of mattresses expressed gratitude.
Carmen Smith, 80, of Rhymesbury in the Railroad Community Council area, lives with her grandchild and her sick son who had a stroke a few years ago. She has no support system and expressed her appreciation to Jamalco for the mattress, pointing out that despite the challenges she was facing, she will be able to “sleep good at nights”.
The mattresses were delivered through the community relations officers for each operating area, in collaboration with the respective community councils. Senior Community Relations Officer Phillip Biggs explained that “residents are selected based on an ongoing assessment of the neediest before a donation is made”.