Wed | Dec 18, 2024

Construction worker gets home of his own

Published:Wednesday | June 30, 2021 | 12:12 AMSanaa Douglas/Gleaner Intern
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Gifford Gayle, recipient of a brand-new home in James Mountain, Sligoville, St Catherine, carries lumber at the worksite on Tuesday. The house-building initiative is a partnership between Food For The Poor and Boom as part of the energy drink’s 10th anni
Ian Allen/Photographer
Gifford Gayle, recipient of a brand-new home in James Mountain, Sligoville, St Catherine, carries lumber at the worksite on Tuesday. The house-building initiative is a partnership between Food For The Poor and Boom as part of the energy drink’s 10th anniversary.
Gifford Gayle is thrilled to have a home of his own.
Ian Allen/Photographer
Gifford Gayle is thrilled to have a home of his own.
A painter puts the finishing touches on an eave of the James Mountain house that Gifford Gayle and Cynthia James will now call their home.
Ian Allen/Photographer
A painter puts the finishing touches on an eave of the James Mountain house that Gifford Gayle and Cynthia James will now call their home.
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A part-time construction worker finally slept in his own house last night.

Gifford Gayle, 44, and his partner, Cynthia James, had to move out of his Portmore, St Catherine, home and bunk with his sister and nieces in the rural terrain of James Mountain because he was unable to afford the rent.

Gayle said he was laid off from his sales assistant post at Jamaica Beverages in 2014 and has been unable to secure steady employment beyond a few odd jobs.

Gayle is the 10th and final recipient of a house from Wisynco’s Boom ‘Tan A Yuh Yard’ initiative – a housing partnership with charity Food For The Poor (FFP) aimed at giving relief to poor families amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

As he hammered on hurricane straps to give a hand on the construction project on Tuesday, Gayle beamed as he watched his brand-new home taking shape.

“I’m feeling excited! I’m feeling glad for it. I’m feeling overwhelmed,” Gayle told The Gleaner.

Karla Beckford, with whom Gayle currently resides, said that she was happy for her uncle.

“I’m feeling extraordinary, I’m feeling fabulous,” Beckford told The Gleaner.

Craig Butler’s Phoenix Sports Management was also present and contributed to the labour cost.

Sponsor Boom said it was committed to donating another 10 houses in partnership with FFP.

Boom Brand Manager Keteisha McHugh said that as part of its corporate social responsibility mandate, it would upgrade the design and fixtures for the next phase of construction, which will cost an additional J$2.5 million overall.

The original 10 houses each cost an average of US$7,600, but that investment will rise to US$9,800.

Development and marketing manager for FFP, Marsha Burrell-Rose, said that the new houses will be 100 square feet larger, with accommodation for water harvesting. The homes will be fitted with solar panels, doors for the bedrooms and bathrooms, kitchen sinks, and cupboards.

The new houses will be built as part of the Race for Hunger campaign. Its goal is to raise funds to feed one million families across Jamaica and other Caribbean countries and to construct houses for Jamaicans.

Burrell-Rose said that FFP has partnered with private companies in building 27 houses so far, including 11 from National Baking Company, 10 from Wisynco, and two from CIBC. Other donors pitched in.

“The commitment of our local donors has been stepping up. They have just been showing up,” Burrell-Rose said.

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