NY-based charity awards scholarships to local institutions
Thursday, June
28, 2007
 |
The Children
of Jamaica Outreach (COJO), a New York-based Jamaican charity,
has this year awarded four scholarships to local institutions
- two each to the Alpha Boys' Home and the City of Refuge Home.
A three-member
delegation from the charity, including chairman/founder Gary
M Williams, Althea Knight and Lyndon Taylor, made presentations
of the scholarships and gifts of school supplies at the institutions
last week.
Part proceeds
of funds raised at COJO's annual charity ball held each December
in New York, the scholarships of US$1,000 each will help offset
examination fees for the four awardees.
Alpha Boys'
Home and City of Refuge also benefited from the generosity of
former New York Knicks star and Houston Rockets assistant coach
Patrick Ewing who donated sneakers to the cause.
|
| Gary
Williams, chairman/founder of Children of Jamaica Outreach and
member, Althea Knight (stooping), ensure a perfect fit for Michael
Henry of Alpha Boys' Home. The sneakers were donated to the cause
by former NBA star Patrick Ewing. |
COJO is a non-profit
organisation in New York with a mission to help improve the health,
education and general well-being of underprivileged children.
Over the past
decade, the volunteer-driven organisation 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 the Queens YMCA
and Leaf of Life in New York.
Williams, who
led the organisation's seventh visit to Jamaica since it was formed
in 1994, said "any opportunity to help" children "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,"
he said, while thanking MeadWestvaco, Air Jamaica and the Jamaica
Pegasus - all of which he said supported the organisation's efforts.
