NCDA Doing Good in the Neighbourhood

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The National Council and Drug Abuse (NCDA) 3rd Annual Wellness and Information fair was held on Friday, March 15, 2013 at the Marie Atkins Night Shelter/Poor Relief Centre.

This year, the agencies involved were Registrar General Department (RGD), Jamaica Foundation for Lifelong Learning (JFLL), National Insurance Scheme (NIS), National Solid Waste Management (NSWMA), HIV Mobile bus, PATH, Dell’s Beauty School, National Council for Senior Citizens (NCSC) and our medical team.

Two Hundred and Sixty One (261) persons registered for the fair. One hundred and Eighty Nine of them were homeless. Registered participants could access the services free of cost from all of the booth holders. The Doctor and her Team attended to 81 persons (47 males and 34 females) whilst RGD processed 68 applications for 44 males and 24 females. 20 persons registered for discussions with JFLL (8 males and 12 females) and 41 for NCSC (18 males and 23 females). An added feature for this day was the grooming of 17 Clients (8 males and 9 females) by Dell’s Beauty School. NSWMA collected 14 names (5 males and 9 females) for possible employment and 54 persons (25 females and 29 males) were counseled and tested for HIV.

A free meal was provided to Three Hundred and Fifty Eight persons. The meal was prepared by the staff of the Marie Atkins Night Shelter and our sponsors Island Grill and Burger King provided soup and sandwiches to the patrons. Through the generous donations of several sponsors, one hundred and ninety six gift packages were issued.

Sponsors included Mothers, Tastee, Juici Patties, Seprod, Island Mist Spring Water, Peak Bottling, Virginia Dare, Caribbean Broilers, Glaxo Smith Kline, National Baking Company, RST Industries, Cal’s Manufacturing, Facey Commodity, PriceSmart, Burger King, Jamaica Producers and Island Grill.

The day was filled with excitement with musical selections from our guest DJ Danny Browne. Our MC/host Paul Abrahams entertained us as usual and kept the programme running smoothly. There was also a talent competition among the homeless clientele which was very entertaining and the volunteers from Wolmer’s Boy’s School were excellent judges.

The Mayor of Kingston toured the facilities during the fair and exhorted us try and do good in our neighborhood. NCDA is doing our share, join us as a volunteer and help us expand our coverage and offerings, Will you? Call 926-9002-4 to volunteer.