FT. LAUDERDALE – Donovan Thomas, is the Founder of Rize & Shine and President of the RCP Movement (Respect Yourself, Check Yourself, Protect Yourself a Florida based non-profit organization which concentrates on educating teenagers, college students, and minorities on the seriousness of HIV.
According to the Center of HIV Information, there are currently 25,000 Jamaicans infected with HIV in Jamaica. In an effort to further expand the message of the RCP Movement, RCP has scheduled an event in Jamaica on June 13th and 14th.
This event will not take place on the manicured lawns of multi-million dollar resorts, but in the poverty stricken areas where newly infected persons have reached an astronomical status. The sites for the event will be at St. Catherine High School, a co-educational secondary school, located in the Homestead area of Spanish Town, St. Catherine, Jamaica and Prison Oval.
To tackle this great undertaking, they have partnered with established Jamaican organizations such as Ministry of Health and Artist Against Aids (Jamaican HIV awareness organization, made up of the most prolific artists in the reggae industry). RCP will be collaborating with the Jamaican Ministry of Health to provide testing and counseling.
Captain Barrington Irving, The world renowned pilot, is also a part of RCP, and is expected to be in attendance at this outreach event as well.
The success of this event depends on RCP’s ability to generate funds and gain support from various entities, such as the Jamaica Tourist Board, and Grace Kennedy which has agreed to provide support.
RCP has been featured on numerous programs and publications in the South Florida area, most notably (CNN, WSVN-7, Sun-Sentinel, Westside Gazette, CBS-4, and The Michael Baisden Show).
“We impact lives by providing free testing at numerous locations, distributing materials which contain the particulars of HIV, and organizing events to heighten awareness”, says Donovan Thomas.
Additionally, “we are striving to prevent the circulation of this deadly disease by identifying early, those individuals who are infected, but are unaware of their status. The uniqueness of our organization rests in our members’ commitment to achieving our goal; lowering the number of newly infected persons” states Thomas.
Donovan’s is of Jamaican decent as his parents are from Kingston and St. Ann’s, Jamaica.
Community Support
Any monetary donation or resource contribution would be beneficial to the efforts in helping raise HIV awareness in Jamaica. RCP’s current overhead consists of travel and lodging costs for RCP members, along with incentives to attendees, (t-shirts, CDs, bags, etc) to be distributed at the event. Any assistance that you can provide is greatly appreciated.
Donovan Thomas can be contacted at, 954-818-7896 or via e-mai: [email protected]. For more information on the organization, visit, www.rcpmovement.org or www.myspace.com/rcpmovement
