ManitobaAn Afro-Caribbean group in southern Manitoba is collecting aid and tools to help rebuild areas of Jamaica not yet being reached by other agencies.Shipping container filling with essentials and tools to rebuild after Hurricane MelissaChristopher Gareau · CBC News · Posted: Nov 24, 2025 6:00 AM EST | Last Updated: November 25Listen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Neville Hamilton, right, takes donations destined for hurricane-stricken Jamaica into the shipping container at Steinbach’s United Church. (Christopher Gareau/CBC)An Afro-Caribbean group that shares its culture with others in the Steinbach, Man., area is now counting on the community’s generosity to share back with Jamaica.The island nation is still recovering from the devastating Category 5 Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall Oct. 28 and killed at least 45 people and displaced 30,000 households.”There’s old people, there’s young kids, there’s families that are cut off from everybody that have not yet seen … help,” said Neville Hamilton, founder of the Steinbach-based International Reggae Afro Latin Music & Arts Festival, or IRAL.”Our objective is to get to those people.”The group’s youth members are taking donations of medical kits, tents, sleeping bags, non-perishable food and sanitary supplies to fill a shipping container beside the United Church on Steinbach’s Main Street.They would also like to collect donations of power tools to give Jamaicans the ability to rebuild their homes.Buildings are heavily damaged after Hurricane Melissa hit the St. Elizabeth parish community of Lacovia, Jamaica. (Dalton Wright)The goal is to ship all of the donations to people in Jamaica, who will then reach more vulnerable people, like seniors, who cannot get to aid centres.”I would love to see everybody come in that ‘one love’ mind, you know, and come and help the Jamaicans,” said Hamilton, who moved from Jamaica to southeast Manitoba 16 years ago.”That’s my goal with doing this, and also to represent Steinbach.”He has a nephew in Jamaica, Dalton Wright, who is at Ewarton Gospel Lighthouse Church, in the less-damaged parish of St. Catherine, and is ready to help deliver the aid when it arrives. Other churches and volunteers are also helping get to hard-to-reach places.Wright visited flooded inland areas where winds and floods levelled neighbourhoods.”What I saw was a lot of persons lost their homes. Like, there’s literally no roof on their house. Some of them don’t have a house. It’s a big disaster,” Wright said.Youth counting on generosityFifteen youth members from IRAL will be working over the next couple of weeks to stack donations in the container.”Steinbach is known for being one of the most giving communities,” said volunteer Joanne Hamilton, 19, who moved to Canada from Jamaica with Neville, her father, when she was three.”So I have high hopes for the community just helping with this project to help those in Jamaica who need it.”This is the largest donation effort by IRAL.Joanne said she and her friend Tesfanesh Derksen helped organize youth at first to celebrate Black history through their student council when they were students at Steinbach Regional Secondary School.Joanne is planning to go back to Jamaica next year to help repair a school. She and Derksen serve as mentors to the younger members of IRAL, and hope to expand their reach and advocacy.”We’re hoping to do more of these exchange trips so that we can help our communities across the globe,” said Joanne.WATCH | Post-hurricane aid for Jamaica to ship out from Steinbach:Post-hurricane aid for Jamaica to ship out from SteinbachAn Afro-Caribbean group in southeast Manitoba is gathering tools, food and supplies for those who can’t get to international and government aid centres in Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa devastated the island nation.ABOUT THE AUTHORChristopher Gareau is a CBC Manitoba reporter based in Steinbach who covers the province’s southeastern region. He has previously covered southeastern Manitoba in print, and worked in radio and print in northwestern B.C. and southwestern Ontario. You can reach him at christopher.gareau@cbc.ca.
Steinbach group shipping aid to hurricane-devastated Jamaica
