PJ Patterson visits Somerton All-Age

Former PM leads team making donation to students

MONTEGO BAY, St James:Former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson spent Wednesday distributing school supplies to the kindergarten and primary school students at Somerton All-Age and Infant School in St James.

Joining the ranks of Palmyra Foundation volunteers, Patterson also took former Speaker of the House and Member of Parliament Violet Nielson with him to hand out supplies at the school that is also their alma mater.

"Whatever your aspirations, you can become anything you want as long as you put your mind to it," the former head of government said during a brief address to the students.

He reminisced about his time as a primary student at Somerton All-Age and underscored that his education would later serve as the pillars for his future success.

"We welcome the visit of the former prime minister and past student of Somerton. His presence and talk did wonders for the students who were very enthused," said principal Glendon Brydson.

70 SCHOOLS BENEFIT

The Palmyra Foundation is currently in its third week of distributing book bags to 5,750 schoolchildren at 70 schools, valued at over US$170,000, under the slogan 'The Future is Bright, When You Can Read and Write!'

Patterson also congratulated the efforts of the charity's team of volunteers, and talked about the importance of education.

At the end of this year's book distribution, more than 100 international volunteers would have helped deliver 100,000 books to 25,000 children in 88 schools across Jamaica at a value of approximately US$670,000 since the charity's start-up in 2007.