Proceeds From South Florida’s Jamaican Independence Church Service Benefits Organizations In Jamaica
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Senator the Hon. Arnold J. Nicholson QC, Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade on Wednesday, October 15th presented checks to the Regent College of the Caribbean in Mandeville and the Friends of the Marie Atkins Night Shelter Benevolent Society.
The presentation represented proceeds from the offering taken at the recent Ecumenical Church Service commemorating Jamaica’s 52nd Anniversary of Independence held on Sunday (Aug. 3), at the Faith Center in Sunrise, South Florida. The ceremony was held at the Foreign Ministry’s New Kingston offices to the Reverend Peter Spencer, Board Chairman of Regent College of the Caribbean and Mrs. Patricia Reid-Waugh, President of the Friends of the Marie Atkins Night Shelter Benevolent Society.
The 69 year-old Regent College, which underwent a name change in August 2012 from Jamaica Bible College, currently has 112 students enrolled in its four schools of study, which are: School of Bible and Theology; School of Business; School of Education; and School of Continuing Education. Their community outreach also includes vocational training in collaboration with HEART TRUST/NTA.
With the establishment of the Marie Atkins Night Shelter in 1993, those close to the Shelter saw the necessity of forming the Friends of the Marie Atkins Night Shelter Benevolent Society, which, since its formal inception in March 2013, has organised fund-raising events and treats for the Shelter, in addition to assisting in the provision of identification cards for the homeless. They have also assisted in grooming, provision of meals and entertainment at the Shelter.
Part of the Society’s planned activities for next year is the provision of a monthly financial stipend to the Poor Relief Department to assist in feeding the additional persons at the Shelter, following their relocation there from the Justice Square area.
