Valdeen Shears-Neptune
When Anjanie Lemo’s husband was critically injured in a freak accident on his job, the mother of two felt lost. Her husband had been electrocuted when he came into contact with high tension wires while doing repairs at his workplace. While she had the support of immediate relatives, the young mother’s thoughts centred on long-term assistance.
Who was going to provide for her infant children now that her family’s sole breadwinner was incapacitated? Then she saw an article on a fledgling non-governmental organisation and her heart connected with the story behind its formation. It has been seven years since Lemo sought the assistance of the James and Jerrold Maule Foundation (JJMF), and she is grateful for it.
Behind JJMF is a mother who lost two of her sons but rather than just grieving, she opted to channel that grief into helping others. Lemo, who is among the 4,000-plus people assisted by JJMF to date, has described the foundation as a Godsend.
“I don’t know if I had that kind of strength. She...they had to have been godsend. You have to understand they not only helped me, my husband and my two sons, but when other relatives needed help they did not hesitate.
“To see a mother like myself help others when she herself was grieving gave us so much hope, it strengthened us as well.”
Lynette Maule was able to turn her grief into glory by giving to others.
Maule, who turned 70 on April 11, celebrated her birthday and commemorated the seven years since she founded the JJMF in what she considers “grand style,” basking in the presence of her two sons and celebrating with a roomful of people, the memories of her last two offspring who have died.
She was all smiles on April 30 at a thanksgiving service at the Tunapuna Parish Hall.
It was the day she commemorated seven years since she honoured a promise made to her dying son, James Andre. The young, seemingly-healthy natural sciences enthusiast was only 24 when the first signs of Hodgkin’s lymphoma showed itself. He was in the prime of his youth, a second-year student in natural sciences at UWI who was working as a natural history tour guide.
After three years of battling the disease with chemotherapy, radiation, and natural remedies, both here and abroad, he passed away on August 10, 2007. What his mother remembers though was his positive attitude, which offered the hope that “he would lick this thing.”
It took two years of coping with her loss and then while reflecting one day, she remembered her promise.
“The seed was birthed when James Andre was in the last few months of his young life.
“He asked one thing of me. He asked one day, ‘Mammy, when I get better will you help me to help people?’” she recalled with a broad smile.
The James Andre Maule Foundation was founded in January 2009. In the first nine months, the foundation attracted 55 contributors/donors and over 35 clients across the country.
During that period they distributed food vouchers to several families, assisted in clearing the lands of an elderly client so that another organisation could build her home, and also secured an electrical supply for her home. Ironically, in 2010, the year tragedy struck her family again, was the period, according to her seven-year report, that the foundation assisted the highest number of people and projects.
“We started to do even more at the beginning of 2010 and held our first meeting that year focused on hosting a fund-raising concert for April that year,” she recalled. Ten days later, on January 19, she would shed tears for the life of her youngest son, Jerrold Allan, one of the foundation’s directors.
The former medical tech-turned firefighter was gunned down in La Horquetta, while in the presence of a close female relative. He was 27 and the father of a three-and-half-year-old daughter.
“You know, I never thought about giving up. It’s like I knew more than ever I had to continue, it now meant I had the memory of two sons to honour,” said the grey-haired retiree. She buried her son, who had emerged most outstanding in his batch of over 100 aspiring firefighters, with full military rites. The change in her life brought with it a change in the foundation’s name.
That year, the James and Jerrold Maule Foundation was incorporated, with her eldest son, Jeffery Anthony, at the helm as its president, alongside treasurer Marcus Ashe. Her second son Jason Allister is an active member. Her husband of 19 years, James Arthur, passed away before the deaths of their sons.
Maule may have given birth to four sons, but she’s mom to all those who come in contact with the JJMF. JJMF beneficiaries are assisted with medical care, food hampers, clothing, and in a myriad of other ways with the contributions of like-minded individuals and organisations.