DJ Kurt Riley Calls For ‘Brotherly Love’

A partnership between BOOM Energy Drink and Food For The Poor’s ‘Tan Ah Yuh Yard’ COVID-19 project inspired a spirit of volunteerism and brotherly love in mid-May. Kurt “The Party Animal” Riley” – a popular disc jock and music producer, along with community members of Biddenford, a small district in Trelawny, came together to help build a safe and sanitary structure with modern amenities for Hubert Clarke and his small family to call home.

Kurt Riley, dismayed by the state of the dilapidated one-room zinc shack in which the Clarkes had been living for the last 20 years, was heartened to join Food For The Poor and BOOM in the venture, promoting the Clarkes from using outdoor kitchen and pit latrine facilities. “People no fi a live so still. You have many mister and missus Clarkes out there. Just like how BOOM can come on board and help the Clarkes them… Any individual, any other company who want come on board and support BOOM with what them a do alongside Food For The Poor … just come make we help the mister Clarkes them and missus Clarkes them a Jamaica,” he said.

Grateful For The Blessings

Hubert Clarke, a small farmer, and his wife, Kathleen, a domestic worker, are grateful for their various stakeholders’ support. A humble Mr Clarke shared that “I live here from 89 and the zinc them and post them getting old… but to be honest, me proud of it because is me who make it. Though I am coming out of it, I am still proud of it – though sometimes it be a curse to me. So, me happy. Me grateful. Many thanks for all the people who make this [new] house a success. It is beautiful.”

The Blessing of a New Structure

For the Clarkes, the two-bedroom dwelling with loft, bathroom, kitchenette, water tank and a starter solar panel now offers them an opportunity to provide a space for their son Rolando, a 35-year-old mentally challenged man who has schizophrenia. He had been sleeping by his grandmother’s house some distance away because of space constraints in the one-room shack. He now has a designated place to rest his head.

The dwelling provided for the Clarkes is one of 30 under Food For The Poor’s ‘Tan Ah Yuh Yard’ campaign. The campaign commenced in 2020. BOOM Energy Drink committed to assisting with costs associated with 10 of the units. The number is in commemoration of the brand’s 10th anniversary.

Development and Marketing Manager at Food For The Poor Jamaica, Marsha Burrell-Rose, asserted that: “It was such an amazing feeling to be able to bless Mr Clarke and his family with a new house. God bless BOOM, and God bless all the donors. We are here to make a difference, and we cannot do it without our donors.”

BOOM will sponsor another three houses under the FFTP COVID-19 initiative. The initiative seeks to provide safe and sanitary structures for more Jamaicans. It also enables residents to stay indoors to minimise the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).