$10 Million Short, With the Walls Up: The Anglican Church Appeals to Finish the Clifton Boys’ Home

• The rebuilt Clifton Boys’ Home in Darliston, Westmoreland, still needed about $10 million in July 2020
• Construction was estimated at $60 million, excluding fixtures and furnishings
• The 2020 Sagicor Sigma Corporate Run contributed $18 million
• The boys had been housed at an Assemblies of Holiness church since the 2017 fire

By July 2020 the walls of the new Clifton Boys’ Home were up, but the money had not caught up. The Jamaica Observer reported that about $10 million was still needed to finish the two-storey building in Darliston, Westmoreland, which was replacing the home destroyed by fire in January 2017.

The project, owned and operated by the Anglican Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, was estimated to cost $60 million, not including fixtures and furnishings. Ground had been broken in March 2019, and the target was to finish by September 2020, in time for the new school year. The 4,000-square-foot building, designed by architect Ray McIntyre and built by Neville Daley Associates and Construction Company of Savanna-la-Mar, would hold up to 40 boys.

Funding had come from the diocese’s own fundraising events, corporate and private donors and $18 million from the 2020 Sagicor Sigma Corporate Run. The outer structure was well advanced, with work turning to ceilings, floor and bathroom tiles, electrical and plumbing fixtures and sanitary conveniences.

Since the fire, 30 boys had been living at the Assemblies of Holiness Church in Caledonia. The Rev Canon Hartley Perrin, chairman of the home and its rebuilding committee, turned attention to what would go inside, saying the focus must now shift to furnishing the two-storey building for up to 40 boys, including computers, furniture, linen and kitchen items. He also appealed for household items: “Persons who are downsizing their home could consider donating items that are no longer needed, but which are in good condition.” The boys moved in that October.

The last stretch of a church building project is often the hardest to fund: donors like groundbreakings and openings more than floor tiles and plumbing. Canon Perrin’s appeal points to a simple way anyone can help, including Jamaicans overseas who are clearing out homes: furniture, linen and kitchen items in good condition can help turn a new building into a home. For churches planning building projects, it is a reminder to budget for the finishing as well as the frame.

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