Beacon of the day | Dalfin Brown Awarded For Stellar Service To Ewarton

Dalfin Brown, who served as a groundsman at Ewarton High School for 18 years, has been awarded for his decades of voluntary contribution to community development.

Dalfin Brown’s decades of helping to build community organizations, as well as inspiring and rewarding residents for excellence in various fields, has not gone un-noticed.

The Ewarton Community Development Committee (Ewarton CDC) gave him his proverbial roses on Thursday afternoon, November 24, 2022.

The organization awarded him, along with four other community stalwarts, during its third annual awards ceremony, held at Bramwell Clarke Park and Sports Complex in Ewarton.

“It is a good feeling being awarded because, over the years, we have been awarding persons and never award ourselves,” Brown told The Beacon. “People really love it because they see our effort over the years and said we really deserve it.”

The other awardees are June Thompson, Brian Perry, Beverly Jobson-Grant and Leslie Bowen.

Brown, who hails from Mount Rosser district in Ewarton, attended Mount Rosser Primary School, Ewarton Primary and Ewarton High.

He recalled that, after leaving high school, he embarked on his journey of volunteerism as a means of staying out of trouble.

At that time, he helped to form the youth club called Operation Push. It was known initially for hosting several competitions as well as youth and summer camps. “Wi goh all around as youths in groups and tried to keep together out of trouble,” Brown said.

Some of Dalfin Brown’s loved-ones were also on hand to share in the momentous occasion.

He lamented that young people nowadays seem far less interest in volunteerism.

“To get young people to volunteer now is the hardest thing because the first thing they ask when you ask them to do something is how much money they will get…” Brown said.

He added: “Even if you try to get the young people involved in the CDC, as soon as dem find out that there is no pay day in it, dem draw weh. Everybody a look a pay day to collect. When you are a volunteer, you don’t think about reward; yuh jus volunteer yuh service.”

After Operation Push, Brown founded Gemini Youth Club in his native Mount Rosser.

That group participated mainly in community football leagues, considering the positive role that sports plays in the building of unity and discipline.

“It took a lot [of sacrifice to operate Gemini Youth Club],” Brown disclosed. “Mi used to use even mi youth dem food money and pay fi games on weekends because the games did haffi play.”

Brown’s passion to serve his community steered him into another influential organization known as ECODOC (Ewarton Community Development Organization Committee). That group eventually was re-branded, and is now known as Ewarton CDC, which Brown serves in the capacity of public relations officer. He has been with that voluntary organization for more than 30 years, he noted.

The latest group that Brown helped to establish is the Ewarton Development Foundation. According to him, that organization was known mainly for awarding residents for exceptional contributions in the categories of sports, community development and education. A number of students also received scholarships through the foundation, Brown said.

He further stated that the foundation hosted a total of 10 awards events, but has been less active since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Jamaica.

During the deadly pandemic, Brown, along with other persons, risked their lives and ventured into the streets to feed the homeless on what were declared as no-movement days, which were implemented to help combat the disease.

“It’s a lot of volunteerism from I started until now; it is a lot of years worth of volunteerism trying to keep the community together,” Brown noted.

In addition to being a volunteer extraordinaire, Brown, who has three daughters, worked for 18 years at Ewarton High School as a groundsman. He also served on the school’s board of directors.

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