Sunshine Girl’s home destroyed by fire
Gov’t, Netball Jamaica moving quickly to provide assistance
Published:Friday | August 25, 2023 | 12:10 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
FOLLOWING the devastating news that fire destroyed the home of national netball representative Latanya Wilson at Rum Lane in downtown Kingston on Thursday morning, both the government and Netball Jamaica (NJ) are said to be busy at work in a bid to quickly provide the necessary assistance for the 22-year-old and her family.
Olivia Grange, minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sport, who is in Budapest, Hungary at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, told The Gleaner that, upon hearing the news, she immediately reached out to the relevant authorities in a bid to help Wilson.
“Early this morning (yesterday), I became aware that fire had totally destroyed her home and 13 members of her family were left homeless and were only left with the clothes they had on their backs. I immediately got on the phone with the member of parliament, Donovan Williams. I also reached out to Minister Pearnel Charles Jr (Minister of Labour and Social Security) and the folks at my office. We are going to make sure that she gets assistance, and she will also get shelter,” Grange said.
Minister Grange also shared that Wilson can rest assured that her office will ensure that she’s taken care of, and extended her regrets to the other families that have been affected by the early-morning blaze in the community.
“Whatever is necessary, we will do and I know the member of parliament will be assisting the families. I want to express my regret at what has happened with Latanya and also the families that have been affected. When I spoke to her, she sounded calm, a little stressed, but she knows that she has support. It’s hard when you lose everything, so we’re going to give her a lifeline and ensure that she’s okay,” the minister said. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Grange said: “It was particularly painful that Wilson, who was a member of the bronze medal winning Jamaica team at the recent Netball World Cup tournament in South Africa, should suffer this devastating loss.”
Leonie Phinn, executive member of NJ, stated that, from their perspective, the work has already started in assisting Wilson as much as possible.
“We, too, are also making some contacts with our sponsors and some other connections that we have, to see how much support we can get for her, in terms of clothing, grocery and housing. She only managed to save her laptop, phone and passport, but nothing else, everything else was lost,” she stated.
Phinn, also stated that the immediate support will be trying to secure a place of housing for Wilson and her family for the next couple of days.
“We are also looking to see where she will be spending the next couple of days. The board is supportive and we are all rallying around her,” said Phinn.