CUSTOMISED WHEELCHAIRS DISTRIBUTED TO NEEDY THROUGHOUT MONTEGO BAY

Volunteers from Rotary Club of Montego Bay and ROC Wheel unloading specialised wheelchairs at the Blesssed Sacrament Church on Sunday.
Left to right – ROC Wheels volunteer Jeannie, Rotarian Mexine Bisasor, Past President Bhagwan Chuganey, ROC Wheel volunteer Kathy, Past President Erica De-Silva, Rotary Club of Montego Bay President Michelle Daswani, Rotary Assistant District Governor Govind Chulani.

Whilst most North Americans celebrated Thanksgiving over the weekend of the 26th of November 2009, the Rotary Club of Montego Bay was giving thanks to R.O.C. (Reach Out and Care) Wheels based in Boseman , Montana whose representatives spent Sunday organising and dispatching wheelchairs to the physically challenged around the second City.

Past President Bhagwan Chuganey has spent over a year working with the ROC Wheels team who visited back in 2008 to determine the special requirements of nearly 100 physically challenged Jamaicans from children’s homes and infirmaries in and around Montego Bay.

Trucks from Mobay Freight Services and St. James Parish Council are loaded with wheelchairs and sent off to St. James Infirmary, Blessed Assurance Children’s Home, Mustard Seed Children’s Home and the physiotherapy department of Cornwall Regional Hospital

With the generous assistance of Rotarians, friends and organisations including Food for The Poor, the trailer of approximately 100 wheelchairs arrived in Montego Bay in early November and this weekend, 8 volunteers from ROC Wheels including 2 physical therapists flew in to begin the distribution.

After church service , on the grounds of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, a team of Rotarians and volunteers along with the ROC Wheels team opened the huge container and began sorting and arranging the wheelchairs for distribution to St. James Infirmary, West Haven Children’s Home, Mustard Seed Children’s Home and Cornwall Regional Hospital.

“These are specialised wheelchairs that have been custom built for individuals with features specifically for disabled bodies,” explained volunteer Kathy from ROC Wheels. She went on to describe how the wheelchairs made the life of the carer so much easier as well as the user citing an example of an elderly Grandmother caring for a growing grandchild who she can no longer manoeuvre. With the donation of one of the specialised wheelchairs the possibilities for Grandmother and grandchild are much improved.

During the upcoming week, the 8 member ROC Wheels team along with Past President Bhagwan and a Rotary Club of Montego Bay team of volunteers will be distributing the wheelchairs to specific persons and places around Montego Bay who will indeed be giving thanks.

Past President Bhagwan discusses logistics with Associate Director of ROC Wheel Holly (with paper) and associate Kathy as they arrange delivery of 85 + specialised wheelchairs to physically challenged persons in Montego Bay.

Photos and article by Natasha Parchment-Clarke (c)

The Rotary Clube de Lisboa, Portugal was founded on the 23rd of January 1926 and is the oldest Rotary Club in Portugal, being almost 84 years old ! The Club has about 60active members and holds their lunch meetings every TUESDAY at 1 pm at the HOTEL TIVOLI, Avenida de Liberdade 185, 1269-050 Lisbon , Portugal.

In Club President Erik Ulrix extends an invitation to all Rotarians of our club thusly, "If you come to Portugal for business, you can use our headquarters of our Rotary Club located in the centre of the city of Lisbon.

"We can also give you support through the vast experience of our Fellow Rotarians in our District D1960 (aprox. 1.500 members)."

The Rotary Clube de Lisboa may be contacted through the following numbers: Tel + Fax: (+ 351) 213 544 837, Mobile Phone: (+351) 960 078 776.

On Tuesday the 1st of December, The Rotary Clube de Lisboa will dedicate an International Toast to the members of the Rotary Club of Montego Bay during the visit of the Governor to their Club.

Fright Night '09

In early September, 3 creative forces combined and began to plan an event that would turn out to be a screaming success – FRIGHT NIGHT at The Shoppes of Rosehall in Montego Bay. Michelle Daswani (President of Rotary Club of Montego Bay) had the vision ; Natasha Parchment-Clarke (Rotarian and Director of Training Tree) rallied the troops of volunteers and attendees and Chwani Gourzong (of Football Academy fame) between organising the Wata triathlon and Kiddies triathlon that same weekend, brought her energy and enthusiasm to the project.

The night would turn out to be more fantastic than the trio could ever dream of with over 300 attendees enjoying a halloween event that is slated to be an annual hit for Western Jamaica.

At 6pm on halloween evening, patrons began entering the Shoppes of Rosehall and the 3 Stooges were on hand to meet you perched atop bails of hay – the perfect photo opportunity. Justin, a teen all the way from Kingston, maximised his hobby as a photographer as he prowled the event taking snaps that were displayed on a slide show near the entrance.

Cute costumed children scampered up and down the main prominade in total safety as they enjoyed a variety of carnival games from bounce-a-bout, ball toss, roll-the-ball, ring toss, face paints, to temporary tattoes. One parent exclaimed “This venue is absolutely perfect, I can let my child roam freely without having to worry about a thing. The side exits are all closed and you are among friends so my child was independent the whole evening and I was relaxed.” The Witches of the West led by Joan Lee and Jackie Bird gathered around their cauldron and whilst thsy should have been heckling passers-by, seemed to be enjoying their hor’s doeuvres and wine with friends more than the task at hand.

The thrill of the night was the Haunted House – an empty shop in the complex which was transformed into a house of horror manned by almost 20 volunteer teenagers from Cornwall College’s Interact Club (the young arm of Rotary in high schools) and a varitey of teenaged girls from in and around Montego Bay.

Ghoulish hosts Sydney, Riley and Daniella escorted visitors around each chanber of horror whilst a variety of tricks and treats were played out.

Daniella

The wall of hands greeted guests and as monster photographer Dwayne took a snap, the real hands (Janice, Deon, Anbessa and Karique) reached out a grabbed squeeling visitors.

Next was the mystery box where children were invited by Simaron to reach in for a trick or treat. As they felt around in the dark crevices of the box , they would be held by the hand inside (Carisse under the table) before being given a treat.

The next chamber produced screams the entire night long – the hosts toured the tomb of mummies which was illuminated by glowing black light and gave the history of wrapped corpses who sometimes came to life. As children and adults peered in the darkness at the glowing, wrapped figures hanging and standing in the tomb they realised they were safe, until one mummy in the corner came to LIFE! (Odaine, wrapped from head-to-toe in guaze never failed to frighten)

The penultimate experience was a slimy one with many refusing to feel for their treats as Hugh-Lloyd and Lakaan encouraged them to pick out a prize from any one of the buckets filed with horrifying contents – intestines and eyebals ; fingers and finger nails ; splattered brains and monster mucus. The spaghetti, grapes, cabbages, carrots and jello were the perfect substitutes for the real things.

As guests departed the haunted house, they were offered bags of candy from a monsterous manequin who sat with a bowl of bagged sweeties in her lap. Chidren and adults alike could tell she wasn’t real so reched for their sweeties with no fear until ‘SNAP’ the hand holding the bowl grabbed on to the sweeties or the person reaching for them – this sent children screaming out the door as a line of attendees awaited their turns to enter the haunted house.

Along the prominade of shops, drinks, food and snow-cones were being served, Creepy Clown (Norman) ; Monsterous monk (Romaine) and Scary Skeleton (Ivan) crept through the crowd.

Thriller and Ghost Busters were being pumped from the speakers and families were socialising happily , when contestants were called for the costume competition. The replica water wheel was crowded by eager parents and nearly 60 costumed children who took part in 2 parades with Spider Queen and Cleopatra winning gift bags of goodies.

By 9pm, the last candied apple was sold (courtesy of Ritz-Carlton’s pastry chef) , the final prizes were redeemed from Malike for the carnival games and toddlers were being taken home to be tucked in for the night. The teens were finally let loose from their duties and they gathered around giggling and reminiscing about a fun-filled evening sharing stories of the evening.

A super event enjoyed by all including the now-exhausted Michelle, Natasha and Chwani who agreed that next year’s Halloween event would be even better! The teens were collected by their dedicated parents, thrilled with their “thank-you” cards inviting them all to celebrate at Cornwall Beach the following Sunday, hosted by the event organising trio. By 10pm the Shoppes of Rosehall was desserted and visitors to the Thriller event at Rosehall Great House were beginning to converge in the parking lot awaiting their shuttle to that venue.

All Photos by Justin Walker (c)

EarlyActors' Coin Drive raises over $200,000!

The EarlyAct Clubs of Montego Bay, in conjunction with the Rotaract clubs of Montego Bay and the Rotary Club of Montego Bay on Sunday the 25th of October 2009 hosted a Family Fun Day Coin Count Off at the Cornwall Beach in Montego Bay. The Fun Day was the culmination of a Coin Collection Drive carried out by the EarlyAct Clubs of Mobay.

The youngest arm of Rotary brought us all such pride as they creatively worked hard at coming up with and implementing various ideas to raise funds for the Norwood Basic School. Their hard work resulted in resounding success as they raised over J$200,000 in this, their first major project. We congratulate them!

Read more on this event here.