Diaspora organization, American Friends of Jamaica (AFJ) continues to support Jamaicans living at home, this time by making a million-dollar donation to various programs and entities.
At the AFJ’s virtual annual Grants Awards ceremony last Tuesday, the organization announced that it would be donating over US$1.7 million dollars to various programmes.
In a statement, the AFJ said that it focused “much of its efforts over the past year on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to continuing its work with donor-advised, discretionary, and scholarship funds. Grants for the entire 2020-2021 grant period were up, over 70 percent over the previous year, for a total of US$1.75 million”.
Organizations that will benefit from the grant are, Bull Savannah Primary, Cornwall Regional Hospital, Creative Language-Based Learning, Gordon “Butch” Stewart Tourism & Hospitality Scholarship, Hope Zoo Kingston, Jamaica Conservation Partners, Jamaica Environmental Trust (JET), St Mary’s Roman Catholic School, among others.
Expressing her gratitude for the assistance the organization has received from donors, President of the AFJ Wendy Hart said, “In a year of immense challenges across the globe, we are extremely grateful to our donors, supporters and partners for stepping forward and increasing their generosity to those in need.”
The AFJ is a non-profit organization with the goal of supporting charitable groups and social initiatives working to improve the lives of Jamaicans. Last March, the AFJ also donated medical protective gear to the health ministry totalling $13.5 million.