Humanitarian fam trip kicks off in Jamaica
School’s not out for summer!
This week Baxter Media is on location in Jamaica with the Jamaica Tourist Board and a group of Canadian travel advisors on a humanitarian fam trip. The group will paint and help put some of the finishing touches on the Dumfries Infant/Primary School — the 27th school build by the Helping Hands Jamaica Foundation — and deliver some funding to Wings, an after school program that’s self-funded from the salary of a local vice principal.
“Helping Hands is in their 27th school build in Jamaica and it was started by one of our tennis pros, Karl Hale, who resides in Canada and he found a passion for helping the Jamaican community in rural areas to build schools where it was impossible to have a proper structure,” said Angella Bennett, regional director, Canada, for the Jamaica Tourist Board. “They do a walkathon in May and a gala in October every year to raise funds for the school. They look for really remote areas that need the support. They go in and build a full school structure, they support with computers, school supplies, so it has everything needed to function.”
$70,000 raised
As a major sponsor of the Jam-walk and Jam-rock gala, the JTB has help raised over $70,000 for the project. Many of the agents joining the fam trip were heavily involved in fundraising initiates for the annual Jam-walk a few months ago.
In addition to the school build, the group will be donating funds to the Wings after care program, which is dedicated to helping students who are falling behind in the classroom.
Once she got word that she was joining the FAM trip, Bonnie Fowler of You Do You Travel with TTAND started asking her clients for $10 donations. Her efforts were matched by the JTB and she raised $2,500.
“I believe that you should leave everything better than how you found it. I come to Jamaica quite often — as a travel agent I sell Jamaica — and when you get, you give and the world becomes a better place. Jamaica and the people of Jamaica have given so much to me that it was an honour to do so,” Fowler told PressToday. “I didn’t do it myself, my clients, my friends, they all contributed because of their love for Jamaica.
Bennett said this is the second time the Canadian travel trade is helping out Wings, as the project was also supported during the launch of Canada Jetlines service into the destination this past December.
“The proprietor, she’s the vice principal of a prominent boys school and she dedicates her salary to pay the rent for this building,” she notes. “The school is run 100 per cent by donations. This is our second visit to the school and I know tears are going to come down from me because we are bringing her probably five months worth of lease payments for the building so that she can breathe easy and take care of the kids.”
