The feel-good satisfaction of “giving back” was an oft-repeated sentiment that unified JPS  Foundation volunteers at the Strathmore Gardens Children’s Home for the energy company Labour Day ‘Staff Pick’ Project .

“Sometimes, people these days can be quite selfish,”  opined Sophia Wilkie, a grid service coordinator at JPS’ Spanish Town offices, in between stripping the exterior walls of the children’s home to receive fresh coats of paint. “So, to find a group of individuals willing to leave their house on a holiday and give back, it’s a blessing and I am proud to be a part of this team.”

Wilkie, a 32-year-serving employee, was the woman who got the ball rolling on this volunteer effort. She had pitched the beautification initiative to the powers that be back in April when the call was issued for the JPS Foundation-funded Labour Day project proposals. 

“I saw the need and this was money being given out by the company,” she explained, bucket and paintbrush in hand, of her impetus to put forward Strathmore for a makeover. 

The J$500,000-winning volunteer project at the St Catherine children’s home that was established in 1975 by the late caregiver Millicent Williams, saw Wilkie’s work colleagues from the grid service department in Spanish Town, the corporate office in New Kingston and the systems control division, all out in supportive numbers.

“I’m still over the moon and happy that my project got selected the beneficiary of this grant,” she shared as scores of her co-workers diligently went about their different assigned tasks of refreshing outdoor and indoor walls, repainting grills, and cleaning bathroom facilities. Wilkie revealed that also on the sweltering morning’s docket for sprucing up: were new sheets and curtains for the dormitories.

Her personal ties to the co-ed facility, which houses and cares for 73 boys and girls, have been ongoing since 2022.

It was initiated by Wilkie’s departmental manager Edwin Levermore, who she said conceptualised the CHANCE project, so named to “give these kids [at Strathmore Gardens] a second chance.” 

“We have been visiting this home every quarter, and making consistent donations from groceries to doing installations. We have sought intervention from businesses and have changed a number of toilets and bought a heavy-duty washing machine Speed Queen for over J$200,000. For Easter, we bought and visited to serve them bun and cheese and for Christmas, we get the children individual gifts.”

JPS Foundation Energy Club member Tyrique Bonner, a sixth-form student at Calabar High, stood out amid the scores of adult volunteers he was toiling alongside with lacquered-paint brushstrokes.

Bonner wanted to pay it forward as his Red Hills Road all-boys’ school has benefited from several of the foundation’s initiatives.

“I just wanted to give back. We are here at the children’s home and the rejuvenation helps to foster a better environment and living conditions. That’s very important,” rationalised the 17-year-old who aspires to become an electrical engineer.

Meanwhile, for Rashema Stanford, an administrative assistant in the customer experience division at JPS, the shared philanthropic experience with her fellow Volunteers On Location To Serve (VOLTS) held meaningful significance.

“Giving back is one of my passions. I like volunteering and I love to see people smile,” she relayed. “It makes me happy when I am able to help someone in need.”

Stanford brought 12-year-old daughter Aria and 5-year-old twins Madison and Jalani, to the project for them to develop an appreciation for acts of kindness.

Pausing from coating the home’s grilled entrance with fresh hues of slate gray with her eldest, she said: “I wanted to show them that you need to be good citizens of Jamaica and the world, and have them experience what giving back and helping persons are about.”

Delighted at the holiday rehabilitation intervention, the children’s home manager Marcia Tucker said: “it was a project I was dreaming of.”

She expressed gratitude to JPS, and particularly, Wilkie for helping hands. “She has never left us out, as whenever we call her, she has always been willing,” Tucker said.

Having worked as a caregiver-turned-manager at Strathmore Gardens for 23 years, her sustaining joy is giving her wards affection and hope.  “Every child comes here with different needs, some might be lack of love, others may be lack of livity, but we try to see if we can help them,” she explained.

Understandably gratified with the day’s turn of events, JPS Foundation head Sophia Lewis assessed, “it was very heartwarming to know that our efforts would improve the living conditions of these children. They were so energetic and wanted to help with the work being done.”

Teamwork, she praised, was strong among the volunteers. “There was a lot of work we had  to execute so it was pleasing to know we were able to make a significant difference. We were tired by the end of the day but had a great sense of accomplishment.  It felt rewarding as the project was in alignment with the foundation’s tagline, ‘Building Thriving Communities’ as we want our youth to thrive.”

Besides the Strathmore Gardens revamping, Lewis reported that the JPS Foundation also activated two additional Labour Day rehabilitation projects. One at the sixth-form block at the Montego Bay High School for Girls, which won overwhelmingly by public voting, and the other at Cornwall College, the ‘Energy Club Pick’ and involved repainting and expansion of the school’s garden. Expenditure across the Foundation’s goodwill initiatives, which saw over 100 participating volunteers, amounted to J$4 million. 

JPS, through its western client relations team, also partnered with Sandals Montego Bay for its community development projects at the Whitehouse Early Childhood Centre and the Whitehouse Fishing Village that included painting, beautification and other light enhancement works.