Kids helping kids - Bustamante Box raising donations through website design
Published:Saturday | October 3, 2020 | 12:07 AMJamila Litchmore/Special Projects and Engagement Editor
The Bustamante Box is raising donations to help children in need through website design.
The new method of donating was recently added to the group’s website to raise funds for upcoming initiatives, including coronavirus (COVID-19) mitigation efforts targeting schools in St Thomas and St Ann.
“We are offering a basic website [in exchange for a donation] to our initiative,” said Matthew Wilmot, founder of the teen-led organisation, noting that website development was taught at Campion College, where Wilmot, 15, is now a fifth-form student.
Several organisations have taken up the offer, and it’s just one way in which the young members of Bustamante Box are putting to use the skills they have learnt to help others islandwide.
“We have been able to sustain our initiatives through donations from families and friends from all over the globe,” said Wilmot.
The charity has also received support from notable individuals, charities, and organisations, including Unicycle Jamaica, El Sol Vida Tours, Property and Technical Services Limited, and Lady Allen, wife of Governor General Sir Patrick Allen.
PLANS FOR STUDENTS
Bustamante Box is currently providing data plans to students who would otherwise be unable to participate in their online classes.
They have made handwashing stations from repurposed oil kegs for several schools and have also supplied hand sanitisers, dispensers, and thermometers.
Dispensers and other items have already been handed over to the Winston Preddie Basic School in St Ann.
Other schools to benefit include the Morant Bay, Happy Grove, Paul Bogle, Robert Lightbourne, Yallahs, and Seaforth high schools.
Peer-to-peer tutoring is another important effort being led by Bustamante Box peer leaders with a focus on older students who have had their studies disrupted by distance learning.
Julia Dunn, an upper-sixth-form student at Campion College, spearheads this initiative to help other students who, like herself and Wilmot, are preparing for external exams during the pandemic.
“We are focusing on fourth- and fifth-form students who aren’t able to access their online classes [but] they are in the [CSEC] programme now like [me]. We think it will be more impactful,” said Wilmot.
Wilmot started the Bustamante Box in 2012 at the age of six while a grade-two student at the Hopefield Preparatory School.
He was led to start the initiative during a visit to St Thomas, the parish where his mother was raised.
“My mother used to take me to her home town in St Thomas, and I saw some of the children there who were in need of some resources. [So I decided to do] something,” said Wilmot.
Since its inception, the concept of the initiative has been simple – children would take a key role in helping other children.
Wilmot would collect donations by walking around and asking people to drop money, no matter the sum, in a box.
“I was so excited to do my project that I didn’t care how much money they put in the box, as long as it was at least one dollar, and because Bustamante was on the one dollar, I, therefore, named it the Bustamante Box,” he shared.
CHRISTMAS TREAT
The group’s first project was a Christmas treat for the children of Golden Grove and Arcadia in St Thomas. The children of Bustamante Box provided gifts, food, prizes, and games for the kids in the communities.
Eight years later, the Bustamante Box has grown and is taking on more projects. It is led by four executive members: Wilmot; Dunn, the Collaborative Online Reach and Peer Support (CORPS) programme director; and public relations and fundraising coordinators Rhys Greenland and Dylan Dunkley.
The activities of the group are organised into two main programmes: CORPS, which includes the group’s peer leader programme, and Building, Educational and Sports Support. To date, they have assisted some 115 children.
To donate or learn more about the Bustamante Box, visit www.bustamantebox.com, call (876) 793-3691, or follow @bustamantebox on Instagram. Have a good story you’d like to share? Email us at goodheart@gleanerjm.com.