A Second Chance

Being one of the weekly winners of $100,000 from Digicel, Montego Bay-based businessman Henry McCurdy has donated some of the winnings to 11-year-old Randayne Plummer, who is to undergo eye surgery, to offset educational expenses.

McCurdy gesture is in response to a Gleaner article published on July 9, 2009, about an incident in which Plummer lost one of his eyes during a recent schoolyard brawl on May 28, 2009.

“It was heartrending to know the circumstances that caused this young boy to loose one of his eyes, and to know that he has not been able to go to school since the incident, was enough to let me want to help,” McCurdy revealed during an official presentation.
Another boy allegedly used a broken mop stick to stab Randayne, a student of Chetwood Memorial Primary School in Montego Bay, St. James, following an altercation over marbles.
McCurdy donated a $40,000 cheque to cover the cost of an eye surgery for Randayne. He has also pledged to cover the cost of three months worth of prescriptions; purchase the boy’s textbooks for the upcoming school term; and pay educational expenses (transportation and lunch) up to the point when the young lad completes his Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT).

“I am so grateful to know that there are still persons out there who still cares,” were they must telling words from mother Karrian Graham, who says she has been having a difficult task getting the Ministry of Education to meet their financial responsibility since the incident. Graham contends that the school’s administration and the Ministry have not treated the matter with the urgency it deserves, and she is yet to receive redress for the expenses she has had to cushioned.

“My son is being awakened sometimes at even 3 a.m. since the incident because of the pain in his eye. I can’t bear to see my son in so much pain and feel so helpless,” the disheartened mother explained. “My son performs well and is always punctual but he has not been able to go to school since May.”