A long-term commitment

THE partners of Kingston Hub Disaster Relief Project have committed to long-term recovery mission in storm-torn western Jamaica, as yet another hurricane season looms and raises anxiety among traumatised residents.

“I was in Westmoreland and Hanover recently, and there was a lot of anxiety as they recognised that the hurricane season was coming on and so we need to be constantly aware of this, and we need to make sure that we prepare ourselves and prepare the nation to respond to these disasters,” said chairman of the Hurricane Relief project Archdeacon Patrick Cunningham.

Delivering his address at the handover ceremony of relief and rebuilding items at Christ Church in St Andrew last Friday, Cunningham shared that the Kingston Deanery, the group of Anglican churches in Kingston, is dedicated to supporting families in need under the project for as long as was necessary.

The initiative, formed through the partnership of the District Grand Lodge of Jamaica and the Kingston Deanery of the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman islands, was launched mere days after Hurricane Melissa made its devastating landfall in western Jamaica on October 28, 2025.

According to Cunningham, the project is now shifting from relief aid to providing residents with material necessary for rebuilding and long-term recovery.

He told the Jamaica Observer that people still experiencing trauma and struggling to rebuild after the Category 5 storm needed a source of hope, and the partners of the initiative were ready and willing to provide.

“We had a healing conference a couple of weeks ago and we bought relief items and people were surprised that we were [still] able to [help] and they were quite receptive of the items. So we are still there because it’s not done. It’s going to be a long process of rebuilding and they have the need consistently. I don’t know exactly when they’re going to recover, but we are in it for the long haul,” said Cunningham.

District Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Jamaica Dr Courtney Palmer also stressed that recovery was a long-term commitment.

“When Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica, many of us found ourselves in a state of shock. And to organise the efforts took some time. There was an immediate response, an early response, and now we have an intermediate response, and we’re going to have a late response. It’s an ongoing thing. It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” the distinguished Freemason said.

He shared that support towards the initiative was garnered both regionally and internationally as partners pledged either monetary or material support.

“So far we have received contributions from Panama, from Barbados, from Canada, and now from Trinidad & Tobago, and Grenada. With the exception of Trinidad & Tobago and Grenada, we got monetary contributions which we’ve put in a benevolent fund and a charity fund,” said Palmer.

He explained that items handed over to the Kingston Deanery’s hub consisted of 43 mattresses, pillows, tarpaulins, pallets of bottled water, cleaning supplies, and non-perishable food items.

Palmer also noted that both members and non-members of the organisation in partnership with United Way of Jamaica contributed monetarily with a donation $2 million to assist with repairing houses.

For the Dean of the Kingston Deanery Sean Major-Campbell, the moment was opportune to announce a long-standing partnership with the District Grand Lodge of Jamaica, highlighting that Jamaica was a disaster-prone area, and would require a task force to respond should another catastrophe befall the island.

“I think we should really use this as an opportunity to affirm an ongoing partnership. One of the things that we have been talking about is Melissa relief. But we have evolved to realise that it needs to be disaster relief, because we are in a disaster-sensitive zone and Jamaica is really going to be in this for the long haul,” he said.

Dean of Kingston Deanery Sean Major-Campbell (left); operations manager of Kingston Relief Hub Opal Harker; and District Grand Master of the District Grand Lodge Jamaica Dr Courtney Palmer welcome the relief aid items at the handover ceremony at Christ Church in St Andrew on Friday, May 1, 2026. (Photos: Joseph Wellington)