Ricardo ‘Mr Volunteer’ Burke: Dedicated to giving back
Published:Saturday | March 7, 2020 | 12:00 AM
Ricardo ‘Mr Volunteer’ Burke, founder and managing director of the Yutes4Change Foundation, dedicates his life to helping others.
Leaving his job as a contract worker for Nestlé in 2015 to completely devote his time to volunteerism, Burke operates a Home and Integrity Centre in Gregory Park, Portmore, which caters to a host of needs. The centre’s breakfast programme provides a healthy breakfast to students before school, while the homework centre gives students a safe space to go after school to complete assignments.
“We cater to kids from the early education level up to the tertiary education level. They get to use the centre for free for their assignments and, for adults, it’s free for them to come and do résumé writing, and they get a free phone call to call a potential employer,” Burke told GoodHeart.
The Yutes4Change Foundation was started in 2014 with the aim of providing assistance to students going back to school. The programme has, however, evolved over the years to cater to children, adults, senior citizens and the disabled.
The breakfast programme came to fruition in 2016, with the specific aim of helping the children in Gregory Park. Having grown up in a poor rural community, Burke says he knows what it is like to not have a substantial meal to start the day, and so, by using his own stove and some donated plates, he was able to kick-start the venture.
Register your child
To enrol their child in the breakfast programme, parents are encouraged to come to the centre and register. However, no child is ever turned away.
Their normal breakfast menu includes egg sandwiches on a Monday, fried dumpling with tin mackerel or beans on Tuesdays, cereal on Wednesdays, porridge on Thursdays, and stewed chicken with boiled food on Fridays. Burke disclosed that he also recently forged a partnership with JP Foods which will be providing bananas for the breakfast programme.
Parents whose children benefit from Burke’s many initiatives lauded his kindness and noted that it has made an extreme difference in both their and their children’s lives. Principals have also reported to Burke that attendance in schools have improved, along with punctuality.
One father, Pearnel Wright, who also volunteers his time to the foundation, said his eight-year-old daughter benefits greatly from the homework centre and often receives help towards lunch money.
“Ricardo has a training programme towards education which the youth come to on Sunday, and I see many improvements from my daughter from that on Sundays, especially in mathematics. She came first recently in the class at school, and I will never forget those results,” Wright said.
Denise McLune, who has two children who benefit from the breakfast programme as well as the homework initiative, also praised Burke for his efforts.
“My two children, ages six and 12 are a part of the breakfast programme, too, and it’s a good benefit to them. It’s about a year, and a half now that they are here, and they are comfortable because they have fun here and reading sessions, and so forth. I feel really proud to know that you have a programme here, because sometimes you are low on cash and a service is here, to help you,” she said.
A dedicated volunteer, Burke doesn’t want to limit his services to just Portmore. He says he plans to open a homework centre in St Thomas and launch his breakfast programme there as well.
■ To donate or learn more about the Yutes4Change Foundation, visit @yutes4change on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or call (876) 294-8252.
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