From hungry child to humanitarian | Old Harbour’s ‘Aunty Donna’ to receive US President’s highest award

Today she can look back and reflect on those challenges that moulded a character that allowed her to dream big about one day escaping the clutches of poverty and also paying it forward to other children in similar situations faced with the seemingly insurmountable task of just surviving. She can also find solace and inspiration in the fact that the little girl who was once hungry is now a woman able to not only feed thousands but provide them with the tools needed for a decent education. For that and many other accomplishments carried out in close to thirty years of service, Donna Moore-Stewart will be receiving the U.S. President’s Volunteer Service Award, the highest award given to outstanding volunteers who have gone above and beyond both in the United States and internationally, in answering the call to serve their fellow man.

For Moore-Stewart serving others is now a part of her DNA, having done it for over 28 years to the point that it becomes second nature.

Speaking to Old Harbour News ahead of the U.S. President’s Volunteer Service Awards Fundraising Gala to be held at the Hilton Long Island Huntington on December 2, where she will be formally presented with her citation, she said: “What inspires me is goodness, so if you are helping people I am automatically drawn to that. Most of my work has been done in Jamaica for the past 28 years. People ask me how I feel with this recognition and I tell them that I am truly blessed but I know I could never have done it alone. So this award is for all of those people who made it easy to give because they were right there with me giving as well. I want to thank the volunteers, those people who came out and cook and served selflessly. We are nothing without volunteers and supporters. I move mindfully knowing that, so I accept this award for all of those people’s amazing efforts. I am humbled that this little girl, who used to go to school hungry in Jamaica, is receiving one of the US’ highest honours. I just work and give God thanks that I am an instrument he uses to evoke change. We are not frightened fi titles as titles put us in boxes and limit us. So come December at the awards ceremony, we ago gwan wid weself!”  

Her much-deserved accolades are generated from her charity organization known as the Pollyanna Project which she named after her mother who passed in early 1995. Established in 1994, Pollyanna Project started out small but has since blossomed exponentially to provide service to children and by extension their families not only in Jamaica but several nations in Africa as well. In 2020 they began doing back-to-school treats not only in her hometown of Old Harbour but across the length and breadth of the island. “During covid we gave out over J$8 million in computers, chrome books and tablets,” said Moore-Stewart who grew up in Bodles, Old Harbour. “In 2021 we were able to send a medical student, who had run into financial difficulties, back to school, thanks largely to the efforts of one of our dedicated sponsors, the Brooklyn Nets; and in August of this year we gave out more than 50 computers and more than 1,000 school bags and supplies.”

She added: “After 28 years we have people on board who trust us to do what we said we intend to do and we are not just tied to Jamaica but also send supplies to rural villages in countries such as Sierra Leone and Ghana.”

While many see the results of the Pollyanna Project, Moore-Stewart shared that it is not without its fair share of challenges, chief amongst which is the high level of bureaucracy and red tape involved in working with the out-dated and difficult systems at Jamaica Customs. “Everywhere you go someone wants a piece of us. In the past two years the Brooklyn Nets have given us their merchandise by the hundreds and while we are here to give it away to those in need, other people just want to steal it right off the bat. Then you have the difficulty of trying to regularise transactions by attempting to open a local bank account. Again it’s more red tape. We have been trying to open an account in Jamaica for the longest time and it not happening. Up to now they keep sending us back and forth for more and more stuff until some of the early documents expire. We get no benefits and no concessions from the government. In fact, it’s even easier to operate or send things to Africa than Jamaica,” she lamented. 

Moore-Stewart emphasized that her charity has always been about transparency and following the law, but operating a charity in Jamaica would be so much easier if the powers that be re-examine and reduce all of the unnecessary hoops that they wish agencies and non-profit organizations to jump through just to help those in need. “This year we entitled our campaign ‘Re-ignite, Refocus and Re-energise’. We come to Jamaica every year and we never send anything for anyone to give out on our behalf. We have to be there to organise so that the sponsors can see the fruits of their donations. And trust me, we nuh give out foolishness neither,” said the New Yorker. 

When not working and organising the next big charity event, ‘Aunty Donna’ as she is affectionately called, is booked and busy being the CEO for Positive Radio 106.9 where she is a talk show host. On top of that she is a real estate agent, licensed cosmetologist, author, song writer and producer plus Minister of Religion.  Moore-Stewart, who resides in New York City, juggles many hats, not only as a businesswoman but also as a wife and mother. Married for 21 years to the love of her life Carl, she raises 17-year-old twin boys Jahleel and Jahzeel and loves every moment of it, as her family she shared is just as involved in her charity work as she is. “My family has always been a part of the process. Balancing it all must be a gift or a talent,” she tells me. “I get everyone involved so it’s a team effort. When I come to Jamaica it’s family time so they all come and work and they all love to help other people.”

Not bad for the girl who was a hustler back in the day before migrating to the United States in 1989. From being a typist in an office to hopping on a plane to Curacao to do ‘buying and selling’, Moore-Stewart had to make her coins, as she was determined that where she started in life would not be where she finished. “I grew up without a lot of things as my mother was a single parent who had six of us and it was a struggle to even find food at times,” she said.

Like so many other Jamaicans, Donna’s early life was saturated with hardship and economic challenges that would probably have made many buckle at the knees at the sheer weight of what she had to endure as the eldest female child often left to manage the household and younger siblings while her mother worked outside of the home.

She was born in Kingston but because of the volatility and violence in the streets of the capital city in the1980s, the family moved to Old Harbour on Bodles Crescent to be precise. Back then life, in what was considered a rural area, was totally different from the concrete jungle of Kingston. “It was a huge culture shock,” she admitted. “We used to all kotch up in one room. The kind of one room that you know it’s daylight because of the holes in the zinc that the sunlight streamed through. The pit toilet had roaches that used to crawl out when you were in there. Those challenging years convinced me that I didn’t want another child to go through that if I could do something about it.”

From Old Harbour Primary to the then Old Harbour Secondary School, money was always an issue. “I used to sell escellion and thyme at Coronation Market as a child. As a teen, I also had to sell but I couldn’t let my friends see me selling at Old Harbour market so I went to May Pen Market to sell okras to get money for school. I also had to wear my friends’ old uniforms. Sometimes they were washed so much that the colour was almost burnt out,” she told Old Harbour News. “I am not ashamed of where I came from as it shaped me and my determination and most importantly, it didn’t stop me from dreaming which is what I want other children to do – to dream. I need children to know that your past does not dictate your destiny.”

Her inspiration for all of her work she shared, is her mother who never lived to see any of her children self-actualise, but Moore-Stewart believes she (her mother) is looking down and proud of all of their accomplishments. “My mother was very creative and resourceful,” she said. “I saw her always trying to make a way so she never sat down and complained. There is nothing a man can do that my mother couldn’t do. She would crochet, make up a coal skill (coal kiln), she even sewed my uniforms with her hands. She was also a good chef. My mother was an ambitious woman who allowed me to dream and recognise that there are no limits to dreams and we just have to follow them up with hard work and determination.”

Surely Moore-Stewart is living out her dream, achieved through grit and a never-say-die attitude. A dream deservedly being recognised and perhaps one day too, should be immortalised to inspire those who dear to live their dream.