GoodHeart | Eight-year-old hosts fundraising run for hurricane relief
Loves helping those in need, hopes to set up scholarship fund in Ja
Published:Saturday | October 5, 2024 | 12:05 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
Naomi Townsend, an eight year-old daughter of Jamaicans living in South Croydon, London, is happy that the US$3,400 she spearheaded raising during the summer will go towards persons severely affected by Hurricane Beryl. With the help of her parents and others, she organised a run event held in Ashburton Park on the penultimate weekend of August. Conducting this fundraising race event was not a first for her, but the first she ran for 8K and fell.
“I ran 8K because it represented one year each of my life. I wanted to help because I like Jamaica and I don’t like seeing anyone suffer, and I like to help people and seeing people happy; and when I saw houses knocked down, churches knocked down [and] waves crashing hard, it made me think of my grandma, and luckily my grandmother was saved, but not everybody was safe,” Naomi, student of Regina Coeli Catholic Primary School, told GoodHeart.
Naomi said, after her fall, she knew she had to get up and complete the race because she “didn’t want to let the people down who sponsored me. I love running, so I ran for them”.
Naomi’s interest in helping those in need began about two years ago when she expressed it while walking with her mother and sister. Her first project raised £2,265 to help feed the homeless after she was initially tasked by her school to raise £22.22. The school’s Parents and Friends Association, which set the challenge, suggested that pupils raise money through tried and tested methods, such as a sponsored silence, run, or walk. However, after calling these activities ‘boring’, young Naomi decided she wanted to approach fundraising in a completely different way.
In December 2021, she volunteered with the local charity Percy’s Homeless Hub to help distribute food to homeless people and rough sleepers in Croydon. Inspired by that experience, she decided to use her savings to buy ingredients for a cake and her favourite pasta meal to feed 22 homeless people.
PARENTS SUPPORT HER PASSION
With the help of her parents, she created a GoFundMe page called ‘Project 22’ to provide an opportunity for people to sponsor her while also raising money for her school.
“I saw some [persons in need] and I told my mom I did not like seeing these people on the road, and seeing them suffer. And my mom told my dad that I could make a fundraiser for homeless people, and then that just happened,” Naomi said.
Her father, Lee Townsend, said the hope now is to set up a non-profit organisation for his beloved daughter which could be named ‘Naomi’s Project 22’.
“[We decided on] Naomi’s Project 22, because Project 22 already exists in some other shapes and forms. She had this vision and, [based on] what she has been speaking about, we want to do a project to help older people from within the aged, minority and ethnic communities in the area that we live, because it’s so diverse. We want to start like a lunch club for them, where they can have their meals and play some dominoes and chat and talk. So that’s like a mid-term goal,” Lee explained.
“And the other thing that we want to do is that she has always had a passion for Jamaica, which I don’t know if she captured that from my wife or myself, but the fact is that she loves Jamaica and she has been talking about scholarships, and she would like to set up a scholarship fund to help students or a student throughout their high-school education in Jamaica,” she said.
The money raised from the 8K fundraiser will be sent to the Rotary Club of Mandeville in Jamaica, who are coordinating relief efforts following the devastation caused by Hurricane Beryl earlier this summer.
Lee is a former president and member of this Rotary Club, which he said helped to transform his life while living in Jamaica.
Speaking with GoodHeart recently, Maurice Smith, president, Rotary Club of Mandeville, expressed his gratitude to the Townsend family for thinking of Jamaicans in need.
“As president of the Rotary Club of Mandeville, I am filled with immense pride and gratitude as we recognise the extraordinary efforts of a remarkable eight year old, Naomi, who has raised over $500,000 JMD for Hurricane Beryl relief through her sponsored marathon run in the United Kingdom. Her dedication and compassion serve as an inspiring example of how one individual can make a significant impact in the lives of others,” Smith shared, adding, “The funds raised will provide much-needed support to victims in communities such as Albion District, Belretiro, and New Hall. We have identified recipients of building material grants, ensuring that families affected by this disaster receive the assistance they desperately need to rebuild their lives.”