Run-Down and Facing Closure, a Trench Town Home for the Aged Was Rescued by a Prayer Breakfast

• The Eira Schader Home for the Aged in Trench Town faced closure in 2016
• The National Leadership Prayer Breakfast gave about $550,000 for repairs
• Companies then painted, furnished and planted a garden
• One supporter has given about $9 million of his own money

A home for elderly people in Trench Town that was close to shutting its doors has been kept open with the help of Jamaica’s National Leadership Prayer Breakfast. The Jamaica Observer reported that the Eira Schader Home for the Aged “was in a shabby, run-down state in January 2016 and facing possible closure”.

The 16-room facility, which takes senior citizens from inside and outside the community, was founded in October 1986 by Eira and Angella Schader, a European mother and daughter who moved to Jamaica and decided to help Trench Town. They funded it each year until 1991, when their source of money dried up.

In 2016, the prayer breakfast made the home its main beneficiary. “When the prayer breakfast came, they gave us back our energy and strength. They made a contribution of about $550, 000 to do repairs and set it up,” said administrator Lloyd Ferguson. The money paid for new windows, doors and other repairs. Others followed: Hardware and Lumber joined in, and a Victoria Mutual team painted the home as a Labour Day project. “They got furniture, they did a garden,” said Clover Moore of the Victoria Mutual Group. Mr Ferguson added: “Orrette Wellington actually gave this home around $9 million out of his pocket.”

“From the prayer breakfast give we that energy, it coming like we get more muscles and strength to carry on,” Mr Ferguson said. The Rev Sam McCook, who chairs the prayer breakfast, said most of the charities it had supported over the years had continued.

Homes for the aged in inner-city communities often survive on goodwill and repairs done in bursts. The Eira Schader story shows how a single faith-based gift can unlock wider support from companies and individuals. For churches, and for returning residents looking for ways to give back, keeping such homes in good repair is one of the most direct ways churches and donors can provide safe housing for the elderly poor.

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