Foundation of kindness built on a bottle of water

Western Bureau:

When 11-year-old Jordon Peters, who was selling bottled water on the street of Hague in Trelawny, offered her a bottle of water, free of charge, basic school teacher Marie Evans didn’t immediately realise how much of a life-changing experience this seemingly minor act would be.

It was that surprising act of unsolicited kindness that lit the flame in Evans and led to the formation of her La-Marie’s Foundation, a non-profit organisation geared at helping children and the elderly who need assistance in addressing their life challenges.

In recalling her initial encounter with Jordon, Evans, a teacher at the Stephen James Basic School in Duncans, also in Trelawny, said she saw the youngster walking along the road with his bucket in hand, selling bottled water, and he approached her, asking if she wanted to buy one.

“I said to him, ‘I am thirsty, but I have no money, so next time’,” Evans recounted.

To her surprise, Jordon took a bottle of water from his bucket and handed it to her, telling her that if she was thirsty, she needed the water.

“I was shocked. Here was a little boy willing to cut into his profit and offer an adult a drink. I was touched and began questioning him,” recalled Evans. “I found out that his father had died recently, and he and his mother had decided to sell bottled water and bottled drinks to earn money for the family as well as to keep him in school.”

When Evans, a resident of Clarks Town, also in Trelawny, got home that day, she shared the experience she had had with Jordon. It was during the discussion that the idea of creating a non-profit foundation to help youngsters like Jordon was born.

“I was pleasantly surprised by the number of persons who liked the foundation idea and expressed a desire to support it as sponsors,” said Evans, who officially launched La-Marie’s in the western parish recently.

A hand of love and friendship

According to Evans, the work of the foundation will revolve around serving children and senior citizens who need assistance to cushion some of life’s challenges.

“For the senior citizens, we want to show them we care by extending a hand of love and friendship, and for the children, we want to guide them along the right path so that they can become productive citizens,” said Evans, who is fully committed to the foundation’s motto: ‘Serving children, families, and senior citizens’.

Damian Elvin, the principal of Hague Primary and Infant School, is thoroughly impressed by the caring relationship that Evans has established with Jordon and supports her desire to help other persons in need.

“She is displaying such a caring attitude towards Jordon that no one could, by just looking on, deduce that she was not the mother. The school will support the foundation in any way it can,” said Elvin.

Reverend Junior Rutty, pastor of the Agape Christian Fellowship Church in Falmouth is also happy to endorse and support the foundation.

“I cannot say you have my financial backing, but as for technical and other support, you can count on us,” Rutty told Evans during the launch of the foundation.

Prominent Falmouth businesswoman Annette Parchment said she was impressed by what Evans was doing and has given a commitment to provide the foundation with financial support.

“When I listen to your plans for the future, I am moved to be one of your sponsors. I am pledging $10,000 monthly to the foundation,” Parchment told Evans.

With the foundation now up and running and clearly having the potential to reach out and assist youngsters like Jordon, Evans said she would never forget how one bottle of water changed her life and Jordon’s

editorial@gleanerjm.com