En­ter­tain­ment Min­is­ter Olivia Grange says her Min­istry will be lead­ing a se­ries of fundrais­ing con­certs on the is­land and across the world to sup­port Ja­maica in the af­ter­math of Hur­ri­cane Melis­sa.

The five con­cert se­ries dubbed ‘I Love Ja­maica’ will fea­ture some of the is­land’s “best Reg­gae artistes and mu­si­cians as well as friends of Ja­maica” with all pro­ceeds go­ing to­wards the na­tion­al re­cov­ery pro­gramme.

“We have been hit hard by this very pow­er­ful hur­ri­cane which took lives and in which many of our cit­i­zens lost every­thing. We face a long and chal­leng­ing road ahead, but we will re­cov­er and re­build stronger with sup­port and by work­ing to­geth­er,” said Grange.

The first ‘I Love Ja­maica’ con­cert is sched­uled to take place on No­vem­ber 14.

The Min­istry is al­so fi­nal­is­ing arrange­ments for oth­er con­certs to take place in Lon­don, New York, Toron­to and South Flori­da.

“As we have done so many times be­fore, we turn to our mu­sic, our Reg­gae mu­sic, which has proven to be a heal­ing balm and elixir at times of trou­ble and dis­tress for not on­ly Ja­maicans, but for the world.”

The con­cert se­ries is part of a wider pro­gramme be­ing led by the Min­istry to build morale, lift the na­tion­al spir­it, and en­cour­age vol­un­teerism for the long re­cov­ery.

“With our cul­ture, en­ter­tain­ment, sports and re­li­gious com­mu­ni­ties, we will be reach­ing out to those most af­fect­ed by the hur­ri­cane and mo­bil­is­ing vol­un­teers to par­tic­i­pate in the re­cov­ery pro­gramme.

Grange said her min­istry will con­tin­ue to work close­ly with the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter, the Min­istry of Labour and So­cial Se­cu­ri­ty, and oth­er gov­ern­ment and pri­vate-sec­tor en­ti­ties to es­tab­lish a reg­is­tra­tion process and mo­bilise vol­un­teers.

“There is much to do, but many hands make light work. Each of us can do some­thing to help and so we en­cour­age every­one to do what they can. Every lit­tle act will make a dif­fer­ence,” she said. 

CMC/jm/kb/2025

KINGSTON, Ja­maica, Nov. 2, CMC-