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How one woman created an entire village
How one woman created an entire village
Barbara Gilbert secured homes for 84 Jamaican families
Sunday, July 12, 2009
BARBARA Gilbert does not own a home. The single mother of four still lives in a rented home in Atlantic Beach, Florida. Yet she has used her own money and raised more than US$200,000 in donations to build houses for 84 families across Jamaica who had nowhere to rest their heads.
She works through Food For The Poor, the Florida-based international charity with Jamaican roots.
Donor and social work activist Barbara Gilbert is shown pictures of activities at Barbara's Village by several boys who live in the community.
Gilbert told the Sunday Observer how she came to forge the alliance that is positively changing the lives of scores of poor, homeless Jamaicans.
"I learnt about Food for the Poor while listening to a radio telethon in Florida in 2005. They were trying to raise money for housing to help the poor in Jamaica," she recalled.
"They said that US $2,000 could pay for a home and that US $500 could furnish that home. I pledged in my heart, there and then, to build a house for one family out of my personal savings."
Gilbert then pledged to send $204.84 a month, for a year, from her limited budget to build a house for a family.
Barbara Gilbert (standing centre with baby) sharing the moment with some of the 14 families who received new homes at Barbara's Village in 2006 as a result of Gilbert's fund-raising efforts.
At the time, Gilbert worked as a waitress at the Beach Hut Café in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, was a part-time student and a single mother. She pooled her savings with tips received from diners at the café and got donations from persons she told about her plan to house a Jamaican family.
Then she visited Jamaica and the inevitable happened. Gilbert saw great need in many areas, fell in love with the people and began what she now vows is a lifelong commitment to providing shelter for the poor who cannot afford a place to lay their heads.
"I simply fell in love with the country and the people and so I decided that I wanted to build a whole village. I wanted to help as many families as I could and not just one."
Two weeks ago Gilbert made another trip to Jamaica, her seventh, to check on 14 families settled in a community built three years ago with the money she raised and named in her honour - Barbara's Village - located at Bernard Lodge in St Catherine, on land donated by the Sugar Company of Jamaica.
Barbara's Village resident, Janet Moore (right) with her six month-old daughter, shares family photos with Barbara Gilbert during her recent visit to the St Catherine community.
Janet Moore, a 43 year-old single mother of four girls aged 21, 16, 11 and a six month-old infant, is grateful for her three-bedroom house in Barbara's village.
Life had always been challenging for Moore, but things took a turn for the worse in 2003 after the children's father, with whom she lived in St Andrew's innercity Grant's Pen community, lost his temper in a quarrel with her and used a machete to rain blows and inflict serious harm to mother and all three of the couple's children.
The attack left her injured, her eldest daughter without a hand while the other two girls lost fingers in addition to sustaining chops to the head and neck - scars which tell the horrific tale.
Unable to support her family and pay a $7,000 per month rent, she moved to other locations for temporary accommodation until Food For The Poor came to her rescue and granted her a three-bedroom house in Barbara's village in June 2006.
"This was been a great help. I am grateful," said Moore, still elated at her change in fortunes three years later.
"Getting this house took a lot of worry off my head. Things are going OK."
Moore now earns an income from a shop she operates in Barbara's Village.
Gilbert takes strength from the joy people like Janet Moore continue to exude.
"The most memorable moment of my experience in Jamaica to date was the opening of Barbara's Village plus going back to the village for the first time on Monday, June 22 to see how it has grown. The families have worked together, they have planted gardens. The love and peace was just overwhelming. I asked the residents I saw one question, 'Are you happy?' They all answered, 'Oh yes!' That was amazing," Gilbert told the Sunday Observer.
The families were selected by Food For The Poor Jamaica, based on need.
Gilbert recalled that when she started her labour of love three years ago, she did not own a house. Today, she noted that rather than buying a house for herself, she would use that money to keep providing more needy families with a roof over their heads, since she already had shelter that she could afford.
She noted jokingly that in fact, she owned a miniature Food for the Poor model house that the organisation recently sent her with a note saying, "You can no longer say that you don't own a house!"
However, Gilbert's motivation and zeal to help the poor is no joke.
"We are all one family. What I do is plant seeds of love and hope. If I have a little more than you, I see it as by responsibility to share and help with someone else so that we can all move forward as a family," she said.
Added Gilbert: "I have been through a lot of struggles as a single mother of four children. But in spite of this, I am not near as poor as some of the families I encounter in Jamaica. I recognise and try to see through their eyes what they have suffered and the difficulties they are going through. I am able to identify with other poor families because I have been there and this motivates me to help them. There were many times when I needed help as a single mother but there was no one to provide it. So when I look in the eyes of the poor, I see where I was and I simply cannot turn a blind eye to their needs."
For Gilbert, the poor in Jamaica serve as an inspiration.
"They rejuvenate my spirit every trip, and they help me even though I thought I was the one doing the helping. They smile in spite of their burdens and this is a huge motivation for me," she said.
Just how does Gilbert go about raising funds?
"My main method of fund-raising is by word of mouth. When I come to Jamaica, I go back home and I tell the stories of the poor. I just tell people and before you know it, the word is out. One person to another person until everybody knows. I placed a collection box next to the cash register (at the café) and I shared my dream with my children, friends and customers. I became the voice of the poor in Jamaica."
She is particularly keen on sharing her vision and mission with persons who think that they do not possess enough to make a difference.
"I often say it takes one dollar at a time," Gilbert asserted. "My story shows that ordinary people can do extraordinary things."
A self-proclaimed soccer mom, who knows the uniting power of sports, Gilbert has extended her philanthropic mission to providing sporting gears for hundreds of young Jamaicans. With the help of her son, and members of the youth soccer teams he coaches, a soccer ball collection drive was launched and 350 balls have been collected to date.
Her activities during the recent trip to Jamaica involved the handing over to the Ellerslie Gardens community in Spanish Town, of a football field, constructed with money provided by Gilbert and her colleagues, Ritch and Mary Guenzel of the USA, who were on location for the handing over of the field to the community. The community-based team, Albion Football Club, will manage the facility. Funding for a security fence was provided by the Sports Development Foundation.
"Barbara is an inspiration to all of us," said Mary Guenzel. "Her energy and passion is just contagious."
Gilbert also visited several children and general healthcare facilities in Kingston, and Montego and participated in the dedication of a children-care facility the Western Society for the Upliftment of Children, for which the Guenzels provided funding.
Western Society for the Upliftment of Children assists marginalised youth, including street children through programmes in literacy and remedial education, pre-vocational and technical training, and health education.
The centre has been renovated and was dedicated in honour of one of Food for the Poor's former employees, Gene Huszcza. From December 2003 until his retirement in February 2008, Huszcza dedicated himself to fulfilling Food for the Poor's mission of linking the church of the First World with the church of the Third World for practical positive transformation of people's lives.
For Gilbert, the housing project is a "lifetime" commitment, and she also plans to take on other projects.
"As long as I'm alive, I'll be building houses for the poor," Gilbert said.
"The ball drive will also continue, plus we hope to build more soccer fields such as the one in Ellerslie Gardens. I am also currently working on a Basic School project - trying to raise funds to build a basic school. I have some other projects in mind but I can't say right now. It's going to be a surprise," she added.
Gilbert has since graduated from the University of North Florida, having completed studies with a major in criminal justice. She is now pursuing a master's degree in social work at the Florida State University "Social work is my passion, helping people, changing lives and making a difference," she explained.
"I may be known as crazy Barbara, but I am crazy about the things I am passionate about. You're stuck with me forever, Jamaica," she added.
Barbara Gilbert secured homes for 84 Jamaican families
Sunday, July 12, 2009
BARBARA Gilbert does not own a home. The single mother of four still lives in a rented home in Atlantic Beach, Florida. Yet she has used her own money and raised more than US$200,000 in donations to build houses for 84 families across Jamaica who had nowhere to rest their heads.
She works through Food For The Poor, the Florida-based international charity with Jamaican roots.
Donor and social work activist Barbara Gilbert is shown pictures of activities at Barbara's Village by several boys who live in the community. Gilbert told the Sunday Observer how she came to forge the alliance that is positively changing the lives of scores of poor, homeless Jamaicans.
"I learnt about Food for the Poor while listening to a radio telethon in Florida in 2005. They were trying to raise money for housing to help the poor in Jamaica," she recalled.
"They said that US $2,000 could pay for a home and that US $500 could furnish that home. I pledged in my heart, there and then, to build a house for one family out of my personal savings."
Gilbert then pledged to send $204.84 a month, for a year, from her limited budget to build a house for a family.
Barbara Gilbert (standing centre with baby) sharing the moment with some of the 14 families who received new homes at Barbara's Village in 2006 as a result of Gilbert's fund-raising efforts. At the time, Gilbert worked as a waitress at the Beach Hut Café in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, was a part-time student and a single mother. She pooled her savings with tips received from diners at the café and got donations from persons she told about her plan to house a Jamaican family.
Then she visited Jamaica and the inevitable happened. Gilbert saw great need in many areas, fell in love with the people and began what she now vows is a lifelong commitment to providing shelter for the poor who cannot afford a place to lay their heads.
"I simply fell in love with the country and the people and so I decided that I wanted to build a whole village. I wanted to help as many families as I could and not just one."
Two weeks ago Gilbert made another trip to Jamaica, her seventh, to check on 14 families settled in a community built three years ago with the money she raised and named in her honour - Barbara's Village - located at Bernard Lodge in St Catherine, on land donated by the Sugar Company of Jamaica.
Barbara's Village resident, Janet Moore (right) with her six month-old daughter, shares family photos with Barbara Gilbert during her recent visit to the St Catherine community.Janet Moore, a 43 year-old single mother of four girls aged 21, 16, 11 and a six month-old infant, is grateful for her three-bedroom house in Barbara's village.
Life had always been challenging for Moore, but things took a turn for the worse in 2003 after the children's father, with whom she lived in St Andrew's innercity Grant's Pen community, lost his temper in a quarrel with her and used a machete to rain blows and inflict serious harm to mother and all three of the couple's children.
The attack left her injured, her eldest daughter without a hand while the other two girls lost fingers in addition to sustaining chops to the head and neck - scars which tell the horrific tale.
Unable to support her family and pay a $7,000 per month rent, she moved to other locations for temporary accommodation until Food For The Poor came to her rescue and granted her a three-bedroom house in Barbara's village in June 2006.
"This was been a great help. I am grateful," said Moore, still elated at her change in fortunes three years later.
"Getting this house took a lot of worry off my head. Things are going OK."
Moore now earns an income from a shop she operates in Barbara's Village.
Gilbert takes strength from the joy people like Janet Moore continue to exude.
"The most memorable moment of my experience in Jamaica to date was the opening of Barbara's Village plus going back to the village for the first time on Monday, June 22 to see how it has grown. The families have worked together, they have planted gardens. The love and peace was just overwhelming. I asked the residents I saw one question, 'Are you happy?' They all answered, 'Oh yes!' That was amazing," Gilbert told the Sunday Observer.
The families were selected by Food For The Poor Jamaica, based on need.
Gilbert recalled that when she started her labour of love three years ago, she did not own a house. Today, she noted that rather than buying a house for herself, she would use that money to keep providing more needy families with a roof over their heads, since she already had shelter that she could afford.
She noted jokingly that in fact, she owned a miniature Food for the Poor model house that the organisation recently sent her with a note saying, "You can no longer say that you don't own a house!"
However, Gilbert's motivation and zeal to help the poor is no joke.
"We are all one family. What I do is plant seeds of love and hope. If I have a little more than you, I see it as by responsibility to share and help with someone else so that we can all move forward as a family," she said.
Added Gilbert: "I have been through a lot of struggles as a single mother of four children. But in spite of this, I am not near as poor as some of the families I encounter in Jamaica. I recognise and try to see through their eyes what they have suffered and the difficulties they are going through. I am able to identify with other poor families because I have been there and this motivates me to help them. There were many times when I needed help as a single mother but there was no one to provide it. So when I look in the eyes of the poor, I see where I was and I simply cannot turn a blind eye to their needs."
For Gilbert, the poor in Jamaica serve as an inspiration.
"They rejuvenate my spirit every trip, and they help me even though I thought I was the one doing the helping. They smile in spite of their burdens and this is a huge motivation for me," she said.
Just how does Gilbert go about raising funds?
"My main method of fund-raising is by word of mouth. When I come to Jamaica, I go back home and I tell the stories of the poor. I just tell people and before you know it, the word is out. One person to another person until everybody knows. I placed a collection box next to the cash register (at the café) and I shared my dream with my children, friends and customers. I became the voice of the poor in Jamaica."
She is particularly keen on sharing her vision and mission with persons who think that they do not possess enough to make a difference.
"I often say it takes one dollar at a time," Gilbert asserted. "My story shows that ordinary people can do extraordinary things."
A self-proclaimed soccer mom, who knows the uniting power of sports, Gilbert has extended her philanthropic mission to providing sporting gears for hundreds of young Jamaicans. With the help of her son, and members of the youth soccer teams he coaches, a soccer ball collection drive was launched and 350 balls have been collected to date.
Her activities during the recent trip to Jamaica involved the handing over to the Ellerslie Gardens community in Spanish Town, of a football field, constructed with money provided by Gilbert and her colleagues, Ritch and Mary Guenzel of the USA, who were on location for the handing over of the field to the community. The community-based team, Albion Football Club, will manage the facility. Funding for a security fence was provided by the Sports Development Foundation.
"Barbara is an inspiration to all of us," said Mary Guenzel. "Her energy and passion is just contagious."
Gilbert also visited several children and general healthcare facilities in Kingston, and Montego and participated in the dedication of a children-care facility the Western Society for the Upliftment of Children, for which the Guenzels provided funding.
Western Society for the Upliftment of Children assists marginalised youth, including street children through programmes in literacy and remedial education, pre-vocational and technical training, and health education.
The centre has been renovated and was dedicated in honour of one of Food for the Poor's former employees, Gene Huszcza. From December 2003 until his retirement in February 2008, Huszcza dedicated himself to fulfilling Food for the Poor's mission of linking the church of the First World with the church of the Third World for practical positive transformation of people's lives.
For Gilbert, the housing project is a "lifetime" commitment, and she also plans to take on other projects.
"As long as I'm alive, I'll be building houses for the poor," Gilbert said.
"The ball drive will also continue, plus we hope to build more soccer fields such as the one in Ellerslie Gardens. I am also currently working on a Basic School project - trying to raise funds to build a basic school. I have some other projects in mind but I can't say right now. It's going to be a surprise," she added.
Gilbert has since graduated from the University of North Florida, having completed studies with a major in criminal justice. She is now pursuing a master's degree in social work at the Florida State University "Social work is my passion, helping people, changing lives and making a difference," she explained.
"I may be known as crazy Barbara, but I am crazy about the things I am passionate about. You're stuck with me forever, Jamaica," she added.
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