Simona Broomes spearheads humanitarian venture in Victory Valley

Former Minister of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes, on Wednesday, spearheaded a humanitarian venture, which saw the distribution of over 400 food hampers to residents of Victory Valley, Wismar Linden and a large quantity of other items for children, including stationeries, electronic tablets, toys and clothing. The initiative was coordinated by the Broomes’ Foundation, a charitable organization founded by Simona Broomes and her family. She said Victory Valley is one of the communities close to her heart and while in Government, she worked assiduously, to ensure the community was transformed physically and socially, since there was a stigma attached to it. She said leadership does not stop when someone is removed from political office and so her mandate to continue bringing relief to the elderly, single mothers, youths and other vulnerable groups in communities such as Victory Valley, will continue to be followed. “Victory Valley is one of the communities when I first started working in Linden, the place had a stigma attached to it, in fact persons told me don’t go into the Valley, a lot of bad things go on there, but when I came for my self and walked the Valley, I found the Valley got really beautiful and talented people that got bigger values,” she said.

This motivated her to push for development which resulted in the access road being rehabilitated after two decades, the construction of a children’s park and other infrastructure. “I want to continue that work…..today every single home in Victory Valley got a hamper,” she related. With the challenges children are facing to keep abre,ast with  online schooling  during this time, Broomes said the distribution of school supplies, particularly the electronic tablets, was important for her. “It was a great initiative for me before I got into office, I was on the ground and after office I will continue to be on the ground, you just can’t be a leader because you hold office, you have to continue leading regardless of which side of the fence you are sitting on,” she reiterated.

With the progress  made to transform the community, Broomes is appealing to the Government, to not neglect the community as was done before. “We should not allow this community to return to where it was, but to continue to build and to work with the people and to build with what is already here,”

Chairman of the Victory Valley Community Development Council(CDC), Anthony Roberts, said he is overwhelmed with the humanitarian gesture, since it was needed during this trying time. “Miss Broomes naturally has a humanitarian spirit and I like that, I have great respect for Simona Broomes and the way she does things to reach the people at the grass root level,” he said.

Some of the sponsors that contributed to the initiative are Debra Grant, Bergette Williams, Simone Lashley-Gaskin, Amanda Peters, Regional Chairman Deron Adams and Regional Vice Chairman Douglas Gittens.