‘Christmas in January’
Police corporal hailed for coordinating construction of home for senior citizen
Published:Thursday | February 3, 2022 | 12:05 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
Describing the occasion as Christmas in January, Assistant Commissioner Calvin Allen on Sunday led the commendations for Corporal Howard Francis of the Ocho Rios police at the handover of a house to a senior citizen in New Hope, St Ann, after he coordinated the construction of the house.
Going beyond the call of duty, Francis engaged other police officers, Councillor Ian Bell, the poor relief department of the St Ann Municipal Corporation, residents and the business community in building a home for 70-year-old Veronica Anderson, who usually got wet whenever it rained on the dilapidated structure she called home.
It was a joyous occasion as community members came out to the function hosted by the police to mark the transition.
The new structure, part concrete, part board, with concrete floor, was presented to Anderson furnished with a bed, refrigerator, stove, a bathroom with shower, flush toilet, running water supplied by a tank, electricity, most of which were absent from where she previously resided.
FULL OF PRAISE
The Rev Bruce Greenland of the New Hope Bloodbath Church of God blessed the house and after the cutting the ribbon to her new home, a tearful Anderson was full of praise for Francis.
“Every day I pray, I put it before Massa God to just keep him,” Anderson said. “At night time I ask the Lord to cover him under the blood; hallelujah Jesus. And I appreciate how him stand up for me as a police and I respect him, I respect him. Mi respect him and him respect me. I take him as my own.”
Allen, in charge of Area Two, said Francis went beyond the call of duty in getting the house built.
“This is way beyond what his oath of office spoke to,” Allen said.
“But yet still, there were so many hurdles that would have dissuaded him, that would have caused him not to focus. Nevertheless, he pursued, he persisted, he remained committed, dedicated; he remained unselfish. So all of those different collaborative angles that he had, he utilised them to create for a Christmas in January for Miss Anderson.”
Bell, councillor for the Beecher Town division, called for a promotion for the corporal, and hailed the team that got the job done.
“Sometimes they would be in a position where they can buy a sheet of zinc and they buy the zinc and put it down; sometimes they buy two sheets of ply. But Cpl Francis endeavoured that this house must come through and that Miss Anderson must move from where she resides into somewhere that is acceptable,” Bell said.
Bell said sometimes he would run into Miss Anderson and she would actually cry, saying that she is getting wet in the dilapidated building, and asking, “Wha unnu a do?”
“I said we are working on it; let not your heart be troubled,” Bell would say.
Francis told the gathering that Anderson’s poor living condition came to his attention in 2019 and he decided to act on it.
“With the engagement of the Ocho Rios business community and the St Ann Municipal Corporation’s Poor Relief Department, we decided to build a house,” he said.
He said he had dialogue with Bell, who introduced him to personnel from the Poor Relief Department. But he had high commendation to community members who assisted with the project.
“The truth is, Sundays after Sundays we would have been out here; I want to pause here a second just to say thanks to the community members. I lift my hats to the community members.”
Five community members were given token for their contribution to the cause. One of them, Rohan Huie, told The Gleaner that Francis approached him and asked him to help and he decided to.
“Him tell mi seh him have a lady helping out, so more time mi come home pon weekend, mi just give him the Sunday,” Huie said. “Mi say bwoy, yuh haffi help somebody fi a one help you. And she did need it, so we haffi just dweet. Ah so life work out. Mi happy fi har.”