Friends give financial boost to Good Shepherd Foundation, other charities

WESTERN BUREAU:

The Florida-based Friends of Good Shepherd International (FOGS) has donated US$21,000 to the Good Shepherd Foundation in Montego Bay, which is to be distributed among local charities supported by the group.

The presentation was done at the Good Shepherd Foundation’s medical centre in Montego Bay on October 23. The charities to benefit include the Mustard Seed Communities, the Archbishop Charles Dufour Education Fund, the Liv Well Hospice, and the Hope Health (Teaching) Centre.

FOGS International noted that the donation brings the total amount the group has contributed to Jamaica for 2026 to US$83,000.

The donation was made following a tour of the Good Shepherd Foundation’s medical centre. The tour was part of a mission trip by FOGS’s leadership, including President Andrew Foreman, made to Jamaica.

“A significant portion of the contribution was raised at the organisation’s 30th annual fund-raising gala held in April, in addition to its annual fundraising picnic held in September,” FOGS said in a release. “Mr Foreman noted that VITAS Healthcare [a hospice care group based in Florida], through its ongoing employees’ salary deduction, continues to be a major supporter of the organisation.”

Martena Weatherly, manager of the Good Shepherd Foundation, praised FOGS’s goodwill outreach to the foundation over the years, including immediately after Hurricane Melissa’s devastating impact on October 28, 2025.

The partnership has been in effect since the foundation began its operations in the early 2000s and has strengthened since the establishment of its current location in 2017.

“FOGS has been a faithful partner, and these funds go a long way into addressing our recurring needs, because we are a foundation that depends on our donors,” said Weatherly. “Even after the hurricane, they were the first to come through for us, because we sustained quite a bit of damage.”

“Our facility was built for the service of the people of Montego Bay and its environs, and we turn no one away. Of course, we have to charge for services because our doctors have to live, but the FOGS group has done a lot of donations and a lot of fundraising for us,” she added.

The Good Shepherd Foundation’s medical centre is overseen by the Compassionate Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, which was founded in the Philippines in 1996 by the Reverend Father Brian Kerr, the founder of the Missionaries of the Poor in the Philippines. The facility currently employs two doctors and three dentists among its staff.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com