Burned Out in 2017, Housed in a Church Since: The $60 Million Fight to Rebuild an Anglican Boys’ Home

• Clifton Boys’ Home in Darliston, Westmoreland, was destroyed by fire in January 2017
• The Anglican-run home’s replacement was estimated at $60 million
• The Sagicor Sigma Corporate Run raised $18 million, but just under $10 million was still needed
• Thirty boys were living at a church in Caledonia while the new home was built

When fire destroyed Clifton Boys’ Home in Darliston, Westmoreland, in January 2017, its boys had to be moved into temporary quarters at the Assemblies of Holiness Church in Caledonia. By July 2020, the Jamaica Observer reported, a new home was nearly finished, but just under $10 million was still needed to complete it.

The two-storey, 4,000-square-foot building was designed by architect Ray McIntyre and built by Neville Daley Associates and Construction Company of Savanna-la-Mar. It will house up to 40 boys. The total estimated cost was $60 million, not including fixtures and furnishings. Ground was broken in March 2019, and the target was to finish in time for the September 2020 school year.

Money came from several sources. The 2020 Sagicor Sigma Corporate Run contributed $18 million, and the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, corporate donors and private individuals also gave. The Rev Canon Hartley Perrin, chairman of the home and its rebuilding committee, appealed for “computers for the homework centre, tables, chairs, linen, crockery and kitchen utensils,” and for landscapers to help lay out the garden and games field.

For three years, 30 boys lived in church premises while their new home went up, a reminder of how much of Jamaica’s child care depends on church-owned buildings and the goodwill of other congregations. The home reopened later in 2020.

Rebuilding a church-run home after a fire takes years and tens of millions of dollars. For the diaspora, many of whom give to children’s homes each Christmas, a project like Clifton shows where larger gifts count most: in the capital cost of a safe, modern building. Churches that run residential homes should also make sure their buildings are insured for full replacement value, so that a fire does not leave children waiting years for a proper home.

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