BEACON OF THE DAY: Returning resident feeds 200 people weekly
February 28, 2020An epitome of kindness, Pastor Madge Boyd has been feeding a weekly average of 200 people in the Linstead area of St. Catherine through the Mission Accomplished Ministries she founded in 1999.
“I really find joy in my work,” she told The Beacon, adding that she returned from the United States about a decade ago to help people in need.
“I didn’t willingly pack up and come to Jamaica; it was through the prophetic word that I should go back to my homeland and be a voice for my people,” said the Spanish Town native, who also lived in Kingston and Guy’s Hill in St. Catherine before she migrated to the United States, where she worked as a nurse.
The mother of four, who now resides in the Linstead area, said her outreach programmes are relatively expensive.
They are funded mainly through donations from friends as well as proceeds from fundraising activities, Pastor Boyd disclosed.
Her outreach include sending students to school, hosting various treats, feeding street people in Linstead once per week, providing the elderly with groceries, and feeding some 50 inmates at Linstead Police Station.
She also sponsors the breakfast programmes for several students at Wakefield Primary School and Orangefield Primary in Linstead. Two other schools – Linstead Primary and Berwick Primary – are previous beneficiaries.
Pastor Boyd does not only give in cash and kind.
She also serves on school boards; she serves as a Justice of the Peace; and she serves as chaplain to different organizations – including the Linstead Community Development Committee.
People are usually highly receptive.
“They are very receptive; not very thankful – some of them,” posited the philanthropist, who is Assistant Pastor at the Holy Ghost Power Ministry in McCooks Pen, Spanish Town, St. Catherine.
She expressed disappointment that some people are reluctant to give back to her organization, although it invested significantly in them. She noted that, when people give back, she is better able to reach more persons who are in need.
Pastor Boyd, who operated a tavern in Guy’s Hill and a jerk centre in the Ocho Rios area of St. Ann prior to migrating, encouraged Jamaicans abroad to help the poor and needy back home.
“I don’t know if I want to tell them to come back and live; I would say that years ago, but now I am not sure,” she said. “What I would say is that they should really make some contribution to the lives in Jamaica… When you can make a change in one’s life, you should do it.”
Meanwhile, Pastor Boyd, whose husband Charles is deceased, was among 12 people honoured in the centre of Linstead town on Sunday, February 23, for their indelible contribution to the community.
“I am appreciative of the award because everybody needs to hear ‘thank you’ and to be appreciated; I think it was a very good gesture,” Pastor Boyd told The Beacon.
The award was presented as part of Black History Month celebration by Gi-Di Entertainment and One Life, in association with the Linstead Community Development Committee.
By Horace Mills, Journalist
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