First Heritage Cooperative (FHC) Credit Union recently awarded three civil servants special monetary incentives valued at $200,000 each; and an additional shared value contribution of $150,000 for a community project of their choice.
Speaking at the annual Civil Servants of the Year Awards Ceremony hosted by FHC, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Roxann Linton expressed that, “[The] 2021 nominees have used their God-given talents in their long and dedicated service to the public sector, helping others; and in the process, have become beacons of hope in their workplaces. They have made tremendous sacrifices to achieve their varying successes and were nominated for their progress and their acts of selflessly serving others.”
The FHC Credit Union restarted the Awards Ceremony in 2019 to highlight the outstanding contribution to national development of three categories of public sector workers. The Credit Union’s input has continued the 17-year tradition of the Civil Service Week Steering Committee to honour the country’s civil servants who also represent a large fraction of the Credit Union’s member base.
Thank You For Recognizing Civil Servants
During the prestigious event held on November 26 at the Knutsford Court Hotel, O’Neil Grant, Chairman of the FHCCU Board of Directors and President of the JCSA, praised the annual collaborative efforts of the corporate sponsor FHC, the Ministry of Finance and Public Sector (MFPS) and the Civil Service Week Steering Committee to say thanks to civil servants.
“It has to do with motivation, encouragement and recognising the service that people give. [The awards ceremony] motivates those who would have gotten the awards and encourages those who aspire to be awarded, so they too at one point in the future would be awarded for the service they give,” Grant shared.
He also noted that a large majority of FHC members are public officers, so it aligns very well to recognize them as the credit union for public sector workers, FHC. “The FHC has designed [many] programmes that seek to cater to the needs of public sector workers, and as long as FHC is around, they will be willing and ready to partner with the government to reward and recognise the officers who work” Grant stated.
Grant opined that there are inadequate resources in the Government’s coffers to meet the rewards and recognition needs of the public sector. However, he encouraged civil servants to continue to do good work.
“Along with what is being done with FHC, we hope that it will now cause more public officers to be motivated and continue good and faithful service to the nation,” Grant stated.
Civil Servant Of the Year
Special Projects Manager at the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), Andrine Davidson, achieved the Civil Servant of the Year Award in the Management category. An elated Davidson said: “I feel honoured because I know that the Civil Service is full of very competent and very qualified colleagues. They are all high-achievers. They do very well at what they do, so to be named number one in the management category is very special to me and I am very humbled.”
The other 2021 winners were Clayton McCalla, a driver with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, who aced the Technical Support category, and Acting Manager of Information Systems at the Administrator General’s Department, Ronald Frue, who took the Middle Management category.
