Kiwanis Club, PSOJ plant fruit trees at Ascot High

Members of the Kiwanis Club of Diverse Professionals in Portmore, St Catherine, in collaboration with the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica, recently organised a tree-planting exercise at Ascot High School.

Lieutenant Governor for Division 23 West, Pauline Samuels, said the day’s activities was in keeping with Kiwanis International ‘One Day’ project day on October 22 yearly.

“We are pleased that the PSOJ has joined the effort to make the school’s environment better with fruit trees and shade,” Samuels said.

She said that day’s activities have all 26 clubs within division undertaking a project.

Policy programme and research manager at the PSOJ, Georgette Bolton-Smith, said that the collaboration was timely. She said that the PSOJ provided 100 plants to the venture, which forms a part of an islandwide project being undertaken by her organization.

“We at PSOJ have started within the last six months to plant 500,000 trees (National Tree Planting Programme) and we have done 8,000 so far,” Bolton-Smith said. “It is very pleasing that we are helping Kiwanis to provide fruit trees on the school grounds, as this aids in food security. We are also aware that climate change will make Kingston become very hot, therefore these venture help to provide soft spaces.”

The club members worked tirelessly with pickaxe and machetes to plant the saplings, which included tamarind, apples, ackees, guineps, guava, mangoes and avocados, among others.

President of the Kiwanis Club of Diverse Professionals, Omelio Walker, said it was a project to lift the greenery of the Portmore-based institution.

“We have a social responsibility, which is to make life better for others, so we decided to spruce up the Ascot High School and it is a great feeling,” Walker said.

He also said that there were other projects that would be undertaken to enhance the environs in which they operate.