Beacon of the day | Travel Agent Gives Double Dose Of Kindness To Children
March 3, 2022Not even the novel coronavirus pandemic could have stopped her.
Trudy Thomas travelled to Jamaica from the United States twice last year – August and December – to host her usual treats for hundreds of children in two communities.
The giveaways took place at Moneague Primary School in St Ann and at Berwick Primary in Riversdale, St Catherine.
A total of 200 children benefited in December.
The wide variety of goodies they got included toys, snacks, clothes and school supplies such as knapsack bags with books and other stationery.
“The people reacted very well; a lot of them were very happy,” Thomas told The Beacon, adding that she intends to up the number of beneficiaries this year by including adults.
“I started planning for this year already,” she disclosed.
To host the treats, Thomas uses proceeds mainly from sales made through her T&B Travel Agency, in Georgia, USA.
“It is very challenging to fund the events because I do it on my own. If I don’t get a sale, I cannot do it. When I get a good sale, I always try to pay my bills and buy my supplies for the treats,” she explained.
The entrepreneur also does the treats in memory of her late parents Monica Douse Thomas and Stanford Thomas.
She recalled that, when she started, she, along with her mother, was helping individual students. She started catering to larger groups when she began to host the treats in 1999 when her foundation was launched.
“It is something my mother and I always wanted to do. We always do it, but we usually find certain children and give to them. When my mother passed, I decided to do the foundation for my mother and my father. So I started going out and giving to a bunch of kids,” she said.
The Moneague Primary School alumna added: “My goal is that, if I ever get rich, I would build a home for the homeless and take at least 10 of them in and let them get a start and then I take in another 10 each time.”
Thomas was born in Jamaica, but she migrated in 1979 when she was 12 years old. Despite that, she remains strongly connected to her roots.
NOTE: You can support T&B TRAVEL AGENCY by calling 404-839-2735 (cell), 404-941-9466 (direct), or sending an email to trudy@tbtravel.org.
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