S Hotel Foundation provides J$1.5m back-to-school grants for tourism workers’ children

WESTERN BUREAU: As thousands of children returned to classrooms across Jamaica yesterday, some sons and daughters of tourism workers were doing so against a very different backdrop – their parents remain off the job months after Hurricane Melissa. The S Hotel Foundation has stepped in with a J$1.5-million back-to-school grant programme targeting children of tourism workers whose properties remain closed and who have been without their regular salaries.

ST JAMES, Jamaica —The S Hotel Foundation is pumping J$1.5 million into back-to-school grants for children of tourism workers still off the job following Hurricane Melissa. The assistance comes as schools reopened Monday, September 7, with some tourism workers still without salaries because the properties at which they worked remain closed. Under the initiative, children attending primary and secondary schools will receive grants ranging from J$25,000 to J$50,000, based on need and school level, with high-school students receiving the larger grants. Christopher Issa, founder of the S Hotel Foundation, said the initiative recognises the difficult circumstances in which some tourism families now find themselves. "These are people who have spent years taking care of our visitors and helping to build Jamaica’s tourism industry,” Issa said. “Right now, some of them are going through a difficult period because the hotels where they worked have not yet reopened. We felt that, at the very least, their children should not have to worry about whether they can go back to school properly prepared.” While much of Jamaica’s tourism industry has returned to operation since Hurricane Melissa, several properties remain closed as repairs and reconstruction continue. For workers attached to those properties, the disruption has meant an extended period away from their jobs and, for some, without their regular salaries. The reopening of schools has brought another financial hurdle. "Parents are thinking about uniforms, books, transportation, lunch money and all the things that come with getting a child back into the classroom,” Issa said. “Imagine facing those expenses when you have been off the job and without a salary. That is a tremendous burden for any family.” The Foundation said the grants are intended to provide meaningful assistance rather than simply offset a small portion of the costs. "We didn’t want this to be a token gesture,” Issa explained. “We wanted the assistance to make a real difference. Every family’s situation is different, so we are looking at the needs of each child, with the larger grants going primarily to high-school students, where the expenses tend to be greater.” Families may be recommended for assistance by human resources managers at tourism properties, pastors, teachers or other recognised community leaders. Issa said the referral system is particularly important because some families experiencing hardship may be reluctant to seek assistance themselves. "Sometimes the people who need help the most are not the ones who will come forward and ask,” he said. “That is why we are relying on people in the hotels, schools, churches and communities who know these families and understand what they are going through to help us reach them.” The J$1.5 million intervention forms part of the S Hotel Foundation’s wider support for education and communities affected by Hurricane Melissa, particularly in western Jamaica, where the hurricane severely disrupted livelihoods and tourism operations. For Issa, however, the initiative is also a reminder that behind Jamaica’s tourism performance are workers and families whose livelihoods depend on the industry. “Tourism is about people,” he said. “We talk a lot about arrivals, hotel rooms and earnings, but behind those numbers are thousands of Jamaicans who make the industry work every day. “When some of those workers are hurting, we have a responsibility to remember them and, where we can, help them through it.”  To access the grant support, tourism workers can send their applications to: comms@shotelsjamaica.com