Charities net over $2M in NCB Foundation’s Grant A Wish programme

WESTERN BUREAU:

HEAVEN SENT Foundation, Street People Liberation, Team Lacks and Friends Mercy House emerged overall winners in the charitable organisation category of the National Commercial Bank (NCB) Foundation’s 2022 Grant a Wish programme.

Amassing 16,823 votes from well-wishers, Heaven Sent Foundation based in St Ann, were first place finishers. The charity, which works to address the immediate and long-term needs of the elderly, sick, less fortunate and disabled, earned $1 million in prize money.

The two-year-old foundation has birthed several outreach initiatives among them the Young Scholars’ programme which provides students with CSEC and CAPE scholarships, book grants, learning devices and boarding fees.

Street People Liberation, a youth-led charity based in Montego Bay, St James, is this year’s second-place winner and amassed over 16,000 votes. The group won $850,000 to continue work to enhance the lives of the homeless population and the most vulnerable in Montego Bay and Kingston.

Team Lacks and Friends Mercy House Jamaica which since 2013 has been caring for many individuals deemed among the most vulnerable from its base in St Catherine, received $500,000 as the third-place prize, after garnering 10,728 votes.

“It means everything because we have some initiatives (relating to) youth development, empowerment, and youth building to do. This places us ahead, because in 2023 we are going to have our tertiary-level scholarships being initiated,” said Alejuandra Williams, who co-founded Heaven Sent Foundation with her mother, Angela Whyne.

“Winning this money gives us a bigger and better opportunity to make the wishes of the young people in these parishes come true in terms of them going to university and attaining a tertiary education,” she said.

Williams is also a communication studies teacher at York Castle High School.

POSITIVE AND UPLIFTING IMPACT

“I am so appreciative of this, big thanks to the NCB Foundation. This sponsorship, I would say, came at a perfect time. It’s the winding down of the fiscal year, and there are a lot of projects to pay for, a lot of projects to go into and the funding of our ongoing initiatives with the shelters,” said Ashli Ann Broughton-Jackson, founding director of the Street People Liberation.

The Street People Liberation was invited to a panel interview with members of the NCB Foundation on Friday at the NCB Financial Centre in Fairview, Montego Bay, where Broughton-Jackson shared the goals of her charity.

“This money will help to make an impact on the persons on the road, persons living in the shelter, and of course the projects that we will kickstart going into 2023,” an excited Broughton Jackson told journalists after a formal cheque presentation.

“(The year) 2023 is gonna be a big year for us, this is a good start, one of our first projects kicks off in Trinidad and Tobago in March. We will be focusing on the homeless community in one specific area, as well as our marine initiatives that will also be a part of the first event that we have there,” she revealed.

The NCB foundation says its annual Grant a Wish programme fulfils the organisation’s purpose of empowering people, unlocking dreams, and building communities right across Jamaica.

“And being able to do this during the Christmas season has such a positive and uplifting impact on our staff, our employees, and the general public. We are very grateful for the opportunity to give back to the people in this way, and we are happy to be able to make a difference in people’s lives,” a release from the Foundation said.

“We also want to help fill the gap with devices for our children, and this year, we will be donating 15 laptops and 15 tablets to students aged 17 and under.”

The more than $2 million prize money shared among the three charities is part of a wider pool of a $15 million budget that the NCB Foundation will use in its 2022 Grant a Wish programme.