Council of Voluntary Social Services helps the homeless

The Desnoes & Geddes (D&G) Foundation joined the Council of Voluntary Social Services (CVSS) to provide more than 300 homeless persons living in downtown Kingston with meals and gifts for the council's recent annual Day of Care.

In keeping with the giving spirit of Christmas, 15 volunteers from the D&G Foundation club, the CVSS, and its partners brought joy and festivity to the homeless people of downtown Kingston. With distribution of toiletries, clothing, and warm meals among other necessities to the less fortunate, the parking lot of the Kingston Public Hospital was the site of merriment. In addition to the donations, the D&G Foundation provided health checks, including hypertension and blood sugar tests.

Garth Williams, sustainability manager, Red Stripe, noted that this partnership came, about naturally, as the initiative is directly in-line with the foundation's overall objective of contributing to the development, growth, and empowerment of all Jamaicans. "The Day of Care initiative seeks to enrich the lives of the less fortunate. This ties in firmly with the objective of the D&G Foundation. We are happy to renew our partnership with CVSS for the second time, providing homeless persons with warm meals, clothing, and access to proper healthcare," he said.

Williams continued: "The recipients were very grateful for the clothes and food we gave them, and that's most important to us. Our volunteers were thrilled to directly interact with the beneficiaries because they were able to see how much they were contributing to the community. Next year, we will provide CVSS with logistical support as well as assistance with the planning and implementation to ensure that more persons benefit from the initiative."

Winsome Wilkins, chief executive officer of CVSS, expressed gratitude for the D&G Foundation's assistance in ensuring the initiative had met its intended goal. She said: "We always invite companies to join us for this event so they can share with the homeless and those who are less fortunate. We are happy that the D&G Foundation has partnered with us once again because it shows that they have a vested interest in community development."