A home for Christmas

The house that 76-year-old retired vendor Enid Walters-Johnson lived in for more than four decades is now on the verge of collapsing.

Fortunately, she now enjoys peace of mind, having been the first recipient to have her wish of a new home for Christmas granted by the National Baking Company (NBC) Foundation.

The senior citizen, who lives in Rose Hall district in Linstead, St Catherine, got the keys to her new home on Tuesday under the NBC Foundation’s partnership with Food For The Poor Jamaica to gift 12 homes to citizens in need this holiday season.

The 12 houses were committed at the launch of the Build Back The Love for Jamaica campaign as Craig Hendrickson, director of marketing and sales at Continental Baking Company, challenged members of the private sector to also donate and assist the charity with much-needed funds to construct more houses for the vulnerable and needy.

Speaking with The Gleaner before formally accepting the house, Walters-Johnson said that in addition to leaking profusely when rain falls, she had been fearful that her dilapidated house could collapse on her and her 14-year-old great-granddaughter. It was a concern weighing heavily on her mind each day.

“The house is tearing down. It’s in bad condition. It has a lot of cracks and [the] top [is] tearing out, and I’m getting wet when it rains. When mi seh wet, wet a lot, especially the kitchen and the bathroom,” Walters-Johnson revealed.

OVERJOYED

Now that she has received a two-bedroom house in time for Christmas, she is overjoyed.

“Mi feel good. Mi lef everything to God,” she said.

But getting the house, she explained, was not an easy feat.

With teary eyes, she recalled that she purchased the land from a good friend, Aston Blackwood, with the compensation she received after her husband died in a road accident.

“My husband died over 20 years now, so from you know seh di breadwinner gone, everything gone ... . When you live good and you always do good to people and your church people dem, that’s how mi get by,” she said.

It was Blackwood, who will now be her neighbour, who suggested that she apply for a house through Jamaica’s foremost charity in this area, Food For The Poor (FFP) Jamaica.

NBC Foundation Executive Director Lauri-Ann Samuels said the entity was pleased to have Walters-Johnson and her great-granddaughter as the first recipients in their cheerful mission this Christmas season.

“We are happy that we were able to help Miss Enid with this early Christmas gift. We will continue to be committed to our nation’s future. That is our main focus at National Baking Company Foundation,” Samuels said.

Marsha Burrell-Rose, marketing and development manager at FFP Jamaica, said the organisation is pleased with the NBC Foundation’s commitment to fund the construction of 12 houses for needy families across the island.

“The donation from National this year represents an increase in its annual donation up from 11 and 10 houses in previous years, and we are happy for that gesture,” Burrell-Rose said.

“Now, as we approach the end of the year, we are handing over the first of those 12 committed houses, and we are thrilled to know that Ms Enid is the first beneficiary. The joy that oozed from her after receiving the keys to her new home was priceless,” she said.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com