Once completed, the center will serve as a training ground for area youth as well as adults looking to learn various skills and trade - from computer, to adult literacy classes, to plumbing and carpentry, said Foster. He says there’s a major need for such a center in the area since many who live there cannot “read and write.”
So we’re giving them access to education and a skill and then exposure to work so they can buy food, said Foster, adding that once that happens then the economy will truly grow. But making the project a reality will take several million; a task that may seem impossible to some but not Foster and his group, who already raised close to a million dollars to date.
The annual gala on Dec. 11 is one of the fundraising events set to help add to that figure. Tickets are US$55 each and among this year’s honorees are HBN’s own Irwine Clare, who is also head of the Caribbean Immigrant Services; singers Beres Hammond and Bennie Man and several corporate heads including those from Verizon Foundation, Microsoft and Colgate Palmolive. Rev. Sharpton is the keynote speaker.
The three-day event will also feature a health fair on Dec. 8-9, an education symposium on "Combating Poverty begins with Education," on Dec. 10 and a special Community Church service at the White Horses Methodist Church on Dec. 11, featuring Rev. Darin Moore of the AME Zion Church, Mount Vernon, New York.
Upliftment Jamaica was founded in 199 with the goal of “raising awareness, educating and inspiring people to create an empowering future for them, their environment and their homeland.” For more on the group and its year round projects, log on to: http://upliftmentjamaica.org/programs/index.php. - Hardbeatnews.com
