Seniors revel in 60th year of Christmas treat
Published:Wednesday | December 21, 2022 | 1:36 AM
West Kingston senior citizens turned out in their numbers for Tuesday’s annual Christmas treat, which has been a staple event in the constituency for 60 years.
Led by constituency chaplain, the Rev Shamar Miller, the seniors engaged in singing vibrant songs of praise and Christmas carols.
In addition to lunch, each senior citizen was also given a Christmas package with a whole chicken, rice, oil, corned beef, sardine, salt fish, peas, sausage, flour, cornmeal, coconut milk, sugar, condensed milk, and toiletries.
Rosemarie Jones, 57, a constituent since 1982, told The Gleaner that she has been a beneficiary of the treat twice.
“It helps us a lot. Mi can’t buy a whole chicken, you know, mi nuh stay suh inna the pocket. I appreciate it and it will really brighten my Christmas,” she said with a smile.
This time around, Jones secured a ticket for Allan Allen, a blind man she met at the eye clinic in 2019.
She recalled that he had been waiting for hours and assisted him with seeing the doctor. Since then, she often shares dinner with him and helps with washing his clothes and cleaning his home.
The 52-year-old lost his eyesight to glaucoma seven years ago and has been unable to secure employment.
“Mi nah lie, dem must do it more often, but now couldn’t be a better time. I give God thanks for it because without it, mi nuh know wah the Christmas woulda be. I really appreciate it,” said Allen, who is hoping to cap Christmas dinner of baked chicken and rice and peas with a drink of sorrel.
Veronica Morgan, 65, suffered three strokes last year and depends on a wheelchair to get around.
“From I was a likkle child, Mr Seaga used to give us presents, and so I look forward to coming to the treat every year,” said Morgan, referencing the late Edward Seaga, a decades-long lawmaker who represented Kingston Western up to 2005.
“ I am grateful for it, I am grateful for it,” she said as tears streamed down her face.
Her common-law husband of 50 years, Barrington Facey, who is also disabled and unemployed, expressed his gratitude for the food items.
“We don’t really have much at this moment, so I am highly thankful,” he said.
Member of Parliament (MP) Desmond McKenzie said that more than 2,500 residents, including shut-ins, will receive Christmas packages.
This is the first Christmas in three years that the community has celebrated openly – a welcome relief from the lockdowns, curfews and social-distancing rules associated with COVID-19. The team went house-to-house distributing care packages.
McKenzie, however, cautioned senior citizens, who are among the most vulnerable groups, to continue wearing their masks and following other infection-prevention protocols.
“The Denham Town Golden Age Home was the only facility in Jamaica that never had one case of COVID-19 and it was because of the hard work of the staff and the restrictions that we put in,” he said.
McKenzie extended gratitude to Seprod Group, West Kingston Energy Partners, and a host of other sponsors for donating towards the continuation of a tradition that began in December 1962, the year Seaga became MP.
“My Christmas wish for West Kingston and for the new year is that we will have a peaceful, Christly Christmas, free from crime, free from intimidation, and I am saying this without fear, that we will, and I have been working with the security forces to ensure that law and order is maintained in the constituency,” the MP said.