Team Jamaica Bickle – An Economic Boon To Montgomery County, PA

Team Jamaica Bickle officials with representatives from The Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board of Montgomery County at a hosted reception earlier this week. (Contributed image)

News Americas, PHILADELPHIA, PA, Fri. April 29, 2016: NY-based non-profit group Team Jamaica Bickle, (TJB) may have to beg and plead for donations annually to host Caribbean athletes at the Penn Relays but the economic impact of the effort is being recognized by one Pennsylvania tourism board.

As the count-down begins to Rio 2016, The Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board of Montgomery County hosted TJB earlier this week and said the economic impact of the group and Jamaicans at the Penn Relays on the County is a whopping $726,754.

Approximately 400 athletes, staff and delegates from Team Jamaica Bickle checked in to the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Philadelphia-Valley Forge on Tuesday April 26th and will be there through Sunday, May 1st, making a direct contribution to the economy of the city and state.

Some 110,000 spectators – most of whom are Jamaicans – will be at the Penn Relays this weekend to see their teams’ face-off against U.S. teams and are expected to add to the economic boon for the state.

Meanwhile, Team Jamaica Bickle’s founder, Irwine Clare, Sr., O.D., told NAN that high school athletes from the South American nation of Guyana arrived on Wednesday and will for the first time be hosted by the TJB camp.

Guyanese athletes greeted by TJB officials in PA.

Team Jamaica Bickle, which raises funded organically in the Caribbean Diaspora to help pay for the food, travel accommodation and chiropractic needs of the high school athletes, will also host dozens of young sports stars from Trinidad & Tobago, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and of course across Jamaica including from Calabar and Kingston College high schools.

TJB annually helps to pay for the hotel accommodations of the young athletes, many of whom are from poor communities across the Caribbean and cannot afford the high costs of hotels and daily meals in the U.S. TJB raises funds to help cover the costs while paying for vans to transport the athletes from arriving airports to Philadelphia and daily from the hotel to the Franklin Field. Caribbean meals are provided thrice daily to athletes at a tent on the grounds of the Field.  Caribbean Food Delight Vincent Hosang and his family largely provide the home cooked meals.

Sports stars that have benefited from the services of TJB include Olympians and World Champions Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell Brown, Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce, Yohan Blake and Warren Weir among others.

Support Team Jamaica Bickle with your investment in the Olympians of tomorrow as the count-down begins to Rio, here.