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Digicel grants inner-city kids Christmas wishes

Published:Tuesday | January 7, 2014 | 12:00 AM
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A proud Dante Smith poses with his tablet in front of his mother, Angela Lamont, at the function.
Digicel Public Relations Manager Jackie Burrell-Clarke (left) and Peter Lloyd, marketing director at Digicel, chat with The Gleaner's Christmas Wishlist children Danielle Smith (centre) and Raymone Davis after handing them gifts at Digicel's headquarters in downtown Kingston yesterday. Raymone's mother, Yanique McCalla, looks on. - Rudolph Brown/Photographer
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Alessandro Boyd, Gleaner Writer

Three lucky children were left excited beyond words yesterday at the Digicel headquarters in downtown Kingston as the telecommunications company responded to their Christmas wishes that were published in The Gleaner.

Throughout the festive season, The Gleaner embarked on an initiative where newspaper crews visited several inner-city communities across the Corporate Area and canvassed Christmas wishes. These wishes were then published and Digicel sought to respond to some of them.

Jacqueline Burrell-Clarke, public relations manager at Digicel, told The Gleaner that this gesture was an extension of what they had been doing throughout the Christmas season across the island.

"We had several roadshows across the country and went out with the mindset of brightening the Christmas for many people. When we actually looked in The Gleaner and saw this initiative, we figured that this was definitely a method of brightening the Christmas for more little ones," she said.

"A part of what we did over the Christmas was to give away 10,000 toys to children across the island, and so adding four more to the over 10,000 makes us even happier," she added.

Dante Smith, a nine-year-old recipient of a Huawei Media Pad 7 Lite tablet, lauded Digicel and The Gleaner for their contribution.

"I'm feeling very happy because I got my tablet. It will help me to do my homework and play games" he said.

Angela Lamont, Dante's mother, also expressed her gratitude.

"I am feeling very happy also because he always told me he wanted a tablet, and when he really got it, he looked on me and asked, 'Is Digicel really giving me the tablet?' and I said yes, he was really really happy," Lamont said.