When you think of Montego Bay Jamaica, you think of golf, the beach, tropical drinks and the resorts. Many don\u2019t think of how poverty ridden the island country actually is.
\nTo do the math, $700 to the average American is a decent amount of money, but to Jamaican\u2019s, it is the equivalent of $22,000.
\nIn just a few months in their program called \u2018Spare Change\u2019, the Tyrone Kiwanis Club along with the Kiwanis Clubs from El Dorado and Philipsburg raised $700 as a gift to the Blossom Garden Orphanage in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
\n\u201cKiwanis Clubs has been working with this orphanage since I joined the Club nearly four years ago,\u201d said Tyrone Kiwanis club president Chuck Banas. \u201cWe started collecting spare change in December, and we presented it to the Orphanage. The $700 that we raised will provide the children at the orphanage mulit-vitamins for the next two years.\u201d
\nThe Blossom Garden Orphanage in Montego Bay has a capacity for 70 children, but currently houses 80.
\n\u201cThe law in Jamaica is for the Orphanage to accept any child that the State places there,\u201d said Banas. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how filled the Orphanage is, they must accept any child that is brought there.\u201d
\nChildren at the Blossom Garden range from a few weeks old until the ages of 12.
\nEvery march, a work party from Kiwanis International ventures to the Orphanage to fix things up and help in whatever way they can.
\n\u201cThis year, the work party repainted the outside of the building,\u201d said Banas. \u201cThey also hand poured a cement patio. The members of the Kiwanis work parties, pay their own expenses and do the work as a volunteer project.\u201d
\nJamaica has its tourist attractions, its beautiful beaches, but is a third world country.
\n\u201cWhen you leave the resorts, you see how poverty stricken that these people are,\u201d said Banas. \u201cIt sure doesn\u2019t take long to go from paradise to the middle of the third world.\u201d
\nAfter presenting the gift of $700 to Paola Brown, the Director of the Blossom Garden Orphanage, Banas and his family took some time to meet the kids the Kiwanis were helping.
\n\u201cIt is great to see that through the help of many, these kids are taken care of in a clean environment,\u201d said Banas. \u201cThese kids have nothing, they don\u2019t even own the clothes on their backs. When they go on their break for Oranges, here are these kids who have nothing, but they\u2019re willing to share half of their Orange with you.
\n\u201cWe took our six year-old grandson Zachary with us and he came away with a good lesson,\u201d Banas added. \u201cHe has talked about the kids down there not getting to see their Mom and Dad and not having toys to play with. For a six year-old, it was a real eye opener.\u201d
\nThe Kiwanis Clubs are still taking donations to help the Blossom Garden Orphanage.
\n\u201cThere is always a need for medicine,\u201d said Banas. \u201cThe Orphanage gets about 20% of their funding from the Jamaican government. They rely on churches and other organizations to get them through the year. They need money for paper, paint, furniture and medical supplies, plus there is a need for a doctor to help out. If you are interested in donating anything, talk to any Kiwanis Club member.\u201d
\nThe spare change of people throughout Northern Blair County has made a huge difference in the lives of 80 Jamaican children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When you think of Montego Bay Jamaica, you think of golf, the beach, tropical drinks and the resorts. Many don\u2019t think of how poverty ridden the island country actually is. To do the math, $700 to the average American is a decent amount of money, but to Jamaican\u2019s, it is the equivalent of $22,000. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}