Air Jamaica and Patrick Ewing Join Forces to support Children of Jamaica Outreach

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KINGSTON - May 25, 2007 - A four-member delegation from the New York based Jamaican charity, Children of Jamaica Outreach (COJO) inc. will visit Jamaica from May 29 - June 1 as part of activities in observance of Child Month, celebrated in May each year. Led by Chairman/Founder Gary M. Williams, the organization will make presentations of gifts and school supplies to two benefactors, Alpha Boys Home and City of Refuge. Scholarship presentations will also be made to individuals from both institutions, based on the proceeds raised from its annual charity ball, held each December in New York.

Air Jamaica has again come on board to support COJO and will transport the items to be presented and assist in flying members of the delegation to Jamaica. Alpha Boys Home and City of Refuge will also benefit from the generosity of former New York Knicks star and Houston Rockets Assistant Coach Patrick Ewing who donated sneakers to the cause.

COJO is a non-profit organization in New York, whose mission is to help improve the health, education and general well being of underprivileged children.
Over the past decade, the volunteer-driven organization has supported a number of institutions in Jamaica as well as the United States. Among them are the Alpha Boys’ Home; Glenhope Place of Safety; Marigold Child Care Centre and the Musgrave Girls’ Home in Jamaica; and in New York, the Jamaica, Queens YMCA and Leaf of Life.

Chairman of COJO Gary Williams is pleased to return to Jamaica, noting that this is his seventh visit to Jamaica, since the organization was formed in 1994. "Our children are the future and any opportunity to help them is a worthwhile investment which has far reaching implications. If we fail to take care of our children, there will be no future for us," said Williams, Chairman of COJO.

Williams’ stance is supported by Attorney and Children’s Advocate Marian Edelman Wright who once remarked “If we don’t stand up for children, then we don’t stand for much.”

MeadWestvaco, Air Jamaica, Trans-Continental Express Shippers and the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel are among the corporate entities, which have made the visit possible.