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Good Samaritan plans expansion

Posted on May 26 2013

Marlene Street-Forest, general manager of the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE), accepts an award on behalf of the JSE from Pastor Everett Brown, president of Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, during the Good Samaritan Inn’s awards luncheon at the Medallion Hall Hotel in Kingston on Thursday, March 21, 2013. (PHOTO: NIGEL COKE)

THE Good Samaritan Inn in Kingston, which is celebrating its fifth year, is planning to extend its services to the city's poor and indigent by setting up a health clinic and a skills training facility later this year.

Operated by the Good Samaritan Inn Foundation, the inn feeds more than 400 homeless and other needy people each week. It also provides bathroom and laundry facilities at its Geffrard Place locale, opposite to the National Heroes Park.

Bit it is not just about feeding individuals. It provides devotional experiences to enrich peple's spiritual lives. It is also known to provide shoes and clothing to hundreds, along with regular back-to-school financial assistance, health clinics and fairs and lunch to several basic and primary school students in its vicinity.

"Our overarching plan as we relate to mankind is holistic -- the physical, mental, spiritual and social," said Inn manager, Vermont Murray in an interview. "So, our next step is to put in place a health clinic, which would ensure that individuals who come to us are in good health."

"Our next plan of action," Murray continued, "will be to have in place a skill training facility, so that individuals can be reformed and given a skill whereby he or she can return to society and earn a livelihood and contribute to the overall development of the country."

But while it celebrates growth and improvement in the facility and offerings, the Seventh-day Adventist-owned facility has funding woes.

"The challenge that we face at this point is one of finance, due to the overall downturn in the economy and the fact that this has also led to increased demands by those in need," Murray said.

The Inn currently accesses contributions from corporate and individual donors including members of the Adventist Lay-persons Service and Industries (ASi), but is appealing for more support from entities, even as Jamaicans brace themselves for the major part of the tax package announced in Parliament in February and which comes into effect on April 1, 2013.

In recognition of the support of its partners, the foundation last Thursday, awarded three corporate donors and eight individual volunteers at a luncheon at the Medallion Hall Hotel in Kingston.

The corporate donors recognised were Fosrich Group of Companies, the Jamaica Stock Exchange and the University College of the Caribbean. The individuals were Vermont Murray, Joy Marr, Janet Grant, Lorna Fowler, Edwin Chin, Michael Vanzie, Odel Haughton, and Veronique O'Meily.

"These are some of the foundation donors and individuals who have been supporting us since we started five years ago and we want this to serve as an encouragement and an invitation for others to join as we go forward," said Gavin Lowe, vice- president of ASi.

Guest speaker at the luncheon Patricia Sutherland, chair of the Joan Duncan Foundation and a promoter of volunteerism, lauded the awardees for giving their time and financial support to the needs of humanity. She also commended the Adventist Church for its role in helping some of the most vulnerable in our society.

www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Good-Samaritan-plans-expansion_13942223