Former Santos player gets assistance for holidays
Published:Tuesday | December 22, 2020 | 12:11 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Members of the Vere Technical High School Past Students Association have ensured that former national footballer Miguel ‘Bankie’ Blair will be well taken care of for the holidays after the group donated more than $200,000 to assist him with food and medication on Sunday.
The funds will also assist in securing a final land-tax receipt, which will allow Food For The Poor to begin construction of a house at his residence in downtown, Kingston.
Michael Tulloch, of the Unsung Ones Foundation, who spearheaded the project, was happy they could secure the final piece of paperwork.
“Food For The Poor required the last tax receipt for the land,” he said. “We didn’t have that, but this funding can help to offset that. We have a form that Food For The Poor gave us to fill out, and we can fill it out now that we have the land tax paper.”
Although disappointed not to get the housing project started before Christmas, Tulloch expects it to get under way in early January.
MAJOR BOOST
“Getting the tax receipt was one of the main requirements, and now that we have that, it is a major boost, and we hope to get some more speed to the project.
“We are just a few days away from Christmas, so I am not certain that it is going to be possible for the Christmas, but January, definitely, it will be done,” he assured.
Blair, who played for Vere Technical and Santos during the 1960s and 1970s, has fallen on hard times and has struggled with mental illness.
Having had his living condition highlighted by the media, Blair has been receiving support from former players, Food For The Poor, JamBallers, and Denzil Wilks of the Sports Development Foundation.
However, over a month ago, the Vere past students, including Dunbeholden midfielder Keithy Simpson, were made aware of Blair’s struggles and they took on the project as a priority.
“We have a WhatsApp group, and the plight of Bankie was put in the group,” Simpson said. “We set it as a project and put a timeline on raising funds.
“We took about four weeks to get the funds as it was an urgent need, and we are here today (Sunday) to present the funds to persons we know who are presently involved in taking care of Bankie.
“The amount - $201,340 - will sustain the need to a certain extent, but it is going to cost much more. So if other people are willing to support the project we will facilitate it as much as we can,” he said.
Former Jamaica Football Federation President Crenston Boxhill praised the effort of the Vere alumni but said that this was just the start.
“The land tax is just $50,000, and that will come out of the funds,” Boxhill said. “So I want to say a big thank you to the Vere Technical alumni on the effort they put in to make this materialise,” he said.