Christmas without mom - DJ Lava plans dinner giveaway to honour late mother
Published:Wednesday | December 23, 2020 | 12:15 AM
For New York-based dancehall selector DJ Lava, this will be the first Christmas without his mother. Lava’s mother, Yvonne Taylor, passed away in April. Christmas, he recalls, was her favourite season.
Lava told The Gleaner that although he wasn’t spoilt with loads of gifts as a child, his Christmases as a boy were the best because his mother always made sure they had what was important – new clothes and a proper Christmas dinner.
“Everywhere celebrates Christmas differently, but if the time comes and yuh nuh have food in Jamaica, it feel different, like a nuh Christmas. Mommy always made sure we had new clothes and dinner every Christmas. This is my first Christmas without her and I miss her dearly, but I know if she was here to see what I’m doing, she would be proud,” he told The Gleaner.
GROCERY SUPPORT
Well aware that many people are experiencing difficulties this year, the Internet talk show host says he is looking to assist a few families this Yuletide season. Through his popular ‘Chat and Laugh’ IG programme, DJ Lava is looking to provide some families with groceries to go towards their Christmas dinner. He hopes the gesture will lift the spirits of the less fortunate and memorialise his mother, whom he said always gave back from the little she had.
“My mother was always a big giver, growing up. She would give out of the little she had and it was never an issue. She is the reason I even carry on the giveaways on ‘Chat and Laugh’,” he said.
“This Christmas we’re going to have something called Chat and Laugh Christmas Dinner giveaways. As a family we’re going to come together and try to make the holidays better for those a little less fortunate. Initially, we said we were going to give US$50 towards people dinner through the live, but my team was suggesting we do the giveaways a different way because we really want it to be about the dinner and we don’t want to send the money and then have it being spent on other things.”
He said the groceries would be ordered online from local supermarkets and either picked up by or delivered to the recipients.
Lava says the programme regularly helps people buy groceries year round, making the Christmas dinner giveaway a natural extension.
“We wanted to continue that for Christmas because even if you nuh eat good all year, Christmas yuh supposed to have yuh nice dinner,” he said.
“People a bawl say it nah go be the same this year and we just wah make sure say if people nah go out, dem can still enjoy likkle nyammings.”