Despite the gloomy sky and dark clouds hovering over the Half-Way Tree Transport Centre last Thursday, there was Christmas cheer for more than 300 children with physical disabilities and special needs. The children were fêted at the seventh.
Sanmerna Foundation, Inspire to Empower a Change Foundation and the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) joined together on Wednesday to bring Christmas cheer to more than 100 special needs children across the Corporate Area.
The three organisations restructured the usual annual event this year and brought gifts to the home of the special needs children, with Santa and an Elf making the presentations.
Before going to the homes, however, a function was held at the JUTC bus terminus in Half-Way Tree, with two special needs children getting gifts at the location where the annual event is normally held since it started four years ago.
Theresa Oliphant (left), Inspire to Change Foundation member, and Sanmerna Paper Products Managing Director Robert White (second left) pose along with ‘Santa Claus’ and Stephanie Josephs, director, Inspire to Change Foundation, and fellow Sanmerna Director Mark White (right) during Wednesday’s ‘Treat on Wheels’ function at the Half-Way Tree Transportation Centre.
Although COVID-19 has interrupted the usual Christmas activities, the Sanmerna Foundation, in tandem with Inspire to Change Foundation (ICF) and the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), made sure more than 110 children with disabilities across metropolitan Kingston were fêted to a ‘Treat on Wheel’.
But unlike the previous years, the event was scaled back to only include an “off the mark” event at the Half-Way Tree Transportation Centre on Wednesday.