Hello, everyone. I haven't posted here for some time. Some of you might remember me from when I taught a Neonatal Resuscitation class to the Volunteer Emergency Response Team a few years ago. Then after Hurricane Ivan, our charity, Friends of Jamaica USA wired $3000 to BREDS for recovery efforts.

Our charity has really grown since then. I would like to share our successes with visitors and our friends in the Treasure Beach Community.

www.friendsofjamaicausa.org

Marcia Burke, Director
Friends of Jamaica USA

Thanks Nurse Marcia for the information. I'm relatively new to this site and will be telling my fellow Jamaicans, friends and family about the friends of jamaica usa website, so they can check it out for themselves and hopefully make a donation.Every little helps and it's obvious this charity is making a huge difference to the lives of many. My donation will be in £ not $ as I live in England , hope this is ok.

An old Jamaican parable is "Good friends are better than money in the bank." Thank you Friends of Jamaica for all you do and I wish you continued success.

Thank you, Rebecca and Joy.
Joy - we will accept any donation. As for doing it online through Pay Pal, I think it should work. If mailing a check, no problem.
Thanks again.
Marcia

Nurse Marcia, I would like to know if one could become affliated with FOJ and have another link. For example a Florida group?

Simple responce will be fine. Won't be offended if it is not feasible.

Hello Florida, and I apologize for not responding sooner.
We have many people that are associated with FOJ that are from other areas of the US and even Canada.
At our website, the Orange Bay project -
http://friendsofjamaicausa.org/subpages/orange_bay.htm
was coordinated by FOJ, but the 3 ladies in MN actually had a fundraiser where they work. They made gift baskets which were raffled off, they sold packs of Kids Cards, and then their company matched the donations. It was very successful.

A group in Canada is gathering sewing machines and other items for Little London High School, and will ship a barrel full of the items, with FOJ's assistance.

Those are just examples. If you have ideas, I would love to hear them, and we could easily work together.

Marcia

Just to confirm, should the cheque be made payable to 'Friends of Jamaica USA'.Oh and just to stop a flood of complaints I haven't spelt the c word incorrectly, that is the English spelling.

LOL, I knew your spelling was "right" - it's we Americans who spell incorrectly, LOL.
Yes, the check can be made out to Friends of Jamaica USA.
Thank you.
Marcia

FOJ recently updated its website. If you haven’t yet checked it out, please take a look at http://friendsofjamaicausa.org/index.php
You will find a little info about the fall benefit at that page.

What’s New??

We are currently having a fundraiser for 2 projects – the immediate need for a fence at Happy Hearts School and a long range project at Little London High School. We have added a new page to track the donations at http://friendsofjamaicausa.org/subpages/whatsnew.php

I am excited to let you know that a loyal Friend of Jamaica has challenged everyone to donate. He will match all donations up to $500 for the Happy Hearts fence. If you donate now at http://friendsofjamaicausa.org/subpages/donation.html
your contribution will be doubled!! For those of you who have already donated – Thank You!! – and your donations will also be doubled.

Now that’s working together to make a difference!

Quick poll results to March 21, 1007
Question: Where do you usually go when you visit Jamaica?
Montego Bay – 1
Ocho Rios – 3
Negril – 49
Other:
Not indicated – 6
Treasure Beach – 22
St. Elizabeth – 3
Port Antonio – 1
Manchester – 1
St. Thomas – 1
Kingston – 1
St. Catherine – 2
Runaway Bay – 1
George’s Plain - 1

Marcia Burke, Director

I am pleased to announce we are $5 away from one goal - to build a fence at Happy Hearts Basic School in Negril. (We haven't raised the entire amount needed, but there will hopefully be another source of funding as well) With a matching donation of $500, the total will be over $1500 raised for that project!!

Our second project, for the Little London High School, has received a promise of matching funds for all donations up to $2,000. This will continue through May.

Thank you to every one who has donated!!
Marcia

Just out of interest how do you decide which projects are more deserving.I would have thought that Negril was one of the more better off areas.

We do most of our projects outside of Negril. Happy Hearts is one school in Negril we have "adopted." We rebuilt the roof after Hurricane Ivan, right after I became director.

One of the things we look at with schools is community/parent involvement. And whether or not there is a good plan in place to complete the work. Ultimately, our board of directors decides which projects to support.

Having traveled to all parts of the island, I have seen how different areas seem to be doing better than others. The entire West End of the Island seems to be in need, from what I have seen.

Thank you for your interest.
Marcia