New MoBay Kiwanis president plans neurodiversity drive, diabetes fair
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Jo-Dane Russell Guerra (centre), newly installed president of the Kiwanis Club of Montego Bay, receives the presidential instruments from lieutenant governor Jerome Johnson (fourth right) during the club’s 60th-anniversary luncheon and installation ceremony at the Grand-A-View Hotel in Montego Bay, St James, on Sunday. Also pictured are St James Custos Bishop Conrad Pitkin (third left) and members of the club’s 2026-27 board of directors (from left): Hugh Miller, director; Winsome Bailey, secretary; Floyd Lewis, treasurer; Ava Maria Campbell, first vice-president; and Annette Brooks, president-elect.
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Jo-Dane Russell Guerra (left), newly installed president of the Kiwanis Club of Montego Bay, presents a token of appreciation to immediate past president Yolanda Kameka during the club’s 60th-anniversary luncheon and installation ceremony at the Grand-A-View Hotel in Montego Bay, St James, on Sunday.
WESTERN BUREAU:
Under newly installed president Jo-Dane Russell Guerra, the Kiwanis Club of Montego Bay will revive a neurodiversity awareness programme postponed by Hurricane Melissa and stage its annual diabetes-awareness fair.
Russell Guerra and her 2026-27 board were installed during the club’s 60th-anniversary luncheon and installation ceremony at the Grand-A-View Hotel in Montego Bay, St James, on Sunday.
The club will continue its annual diabetes-awareness health fair in November, a longstanding fixture on its calendar.
“One of those is coming up in November, and it is a diabetes awareness health fair, which is also our signature project,” Russell Guerra told The Gleaner.
She also plans to relaunch an autism-awareness workshop first introduced two years ago but not repeated this year because of the disruption caused by Category 5 Hurricane Melissa on October 28.
“But I intend for us, during my year of service, to do a relaunch of that workshop and to make it even bigger and better. Instead of focusing only on autism, we are going to focus on children with neurodivergent issues.”
The 39-year-old joined the Kiwanis Club in 2022, but her familiarity with the organisation dates to childhood, when she attended meetings with the grandfather of a close friend who helped found the club. Service, she suggested, has long been central to her identity: “I think ‘philanthropist’ is what would describe me in a nutshell, because I have dedicated so much of my life, from childhood to now, to giving back.”
“Then, in my adult years, one of my best friends was already a part of the club, and she knows what I stand for. So she said, ‘You know, I think you should join the Kiwanis Club of Montego Bay.’ I attended a few of their meetings, and I participated in their projects and I liked the movement, so I joined,” she added.
Speaking at the installation ceremony, Yolanda Kameka, the club’s immediate past president, likened its 60-year legacy to a diamond whose worth is revealed through years of pressure and trial.
“Diamonds are not valuable because they are perfect, but they are valuable because they have endured. To the incoming board of directors, thank you for taking on the task of the continuation of our service to our community, and for the next 60 years of shining,” said Kameka.
christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com