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SANTA gives a helping hand all year round
As far as the global business world is concerned, the initials G4S represent the leading security solutions organisation, created by the merger of Group 4 and Securicor. But G4S Jamaica came up with an imaginative alternative when its security personnel decided to get involved in a much-needed community project.
G4S, it decided, could also stand for “Gifts 4 Schools”.
One school in particular benefitted from G4S Jamaica and its employees’ community efforts. The Roosevelt Avenue Basic School for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children from poor families, located in Swallowfield, just half a mile from the G4S offices, had been built by the Seventh Day Adventist Church as a donation to the community.
But the building was not completed and so, when it opened, it had no windows or doors, and the walls were unrendered and not painted.
There seemed to be no way of improving its condition – but G4S Jamaica had other ideas.
The Jamaican management lost no time in extending a helping hand to the Roosevelt school, which became its first community support initiative.
Security personnel exchanged their uniforms for working clothes and set about installing windows and doors, constructing a kitchenette and renovating a bathroom area.
The project was a complex one, as Frank Jackson, country manager, G4S Jamaica, explains: “It included the procurement of supplies such as cement, sand, wooden louvre slats and frames, doors, locks, ply-wood and various other supplies. It was partly funded by the guards’ own welfare fund to which they make fortnightly contributions from their wages.”
Delighted with the success of that venture, G4S Jamaica soon established a new charity programme, to promote children’s health and education, which it calls SANTA.
But unlike the Santa who just puts in an appearance at Christmas, this one works around the year. The initials represent Seeing A Need, Taking Action.
Mustard Seed Communities
Through the SANTA programme, G4S discovered Mustard Seed Communities, a charity whose Jerusalem compound includes a home for children under 10 who are afflicted with HIV and have no home or stable family from which they can get help or treatment for the disease.The eight-acre Jerusalem compound, located in Jamaica’s depressed Spanish Town district, outside the capital, Kingston, cares for 130 children of whom a number are physically and mentally disabled.
“The home is pioneering the concept of independent living accommodation for the disabled, outside of an institutional setting.” explains Frank Jackson.
“Additionally, this supports the development of self-sufficiency and enhanced self-esteem, speeding up the eventual return to their communities where feasible.”
Also at Jerusalem is the Little Angel Learning Centre, another Mustard Seed Basic School.
Attended by some 40 children,and registered by the Ministry of Education, it receives help from G4S security guards and is financed by Gifts 4 Schools.
A similar effort to the Roosevelt Avenue school was required at Little Angels. Gifts 4 Schools financed a facelift for one of the school’s buildings, involving refitting lights and installing ceiling fans, replacing windows, tiling the floor and repainting ceilings and walls, both inside and out.
And once again, all the labour was provided by G4S Jamaica’s generous security officers.
Phase two of the Little Angels project will be to give the second building a similar upgrade. This work has been delayed, however, due to the ravages of Hurricane Dean which severely damaged the roof in August last year.
A new roof is being funded by Gifts 4 Schools but will be fitted by a professional roofing contractor.
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SANTA gives a helping hand all year round
