April 9, 2007 — Help the Youths Foundation hopes to supply the elementary schools of St. Croix and the Caribbean one at a time.
Founded by the husband-and-wife team of Rastar Productions — a Jamaican-based record label and distributor — HTYF hopes to provide all the paperwork needed to conduct a successful school year. "We’re doing it to give back to the community," said Nicole Bonitto.
The program is "dedicated to helping the youth throughout the Caribbean by donating educational supplies and raising funds through reggae shows featuring V.I. and Jamaican reggae artists," Bonitto said.
A teacher in Florida's public school system, Bonitto said she started with the Virgin Islands and St. Croix because of the response received from V.I. reggae artists like Vaughn Benjamin of Midnite, Messiah and NiyoRah. Bonitto said her trips to St. Croix have always been met with love and helpfulness from the community.
The foundation chose a Frederiksted school as the first to receive donated materials it has collected.
"We're just starting out with Claude O. Markoe first," Bonitto said, adding that the foundation plans to aid as many public schools as it can. "We've gotten so much stuff. We need to spread it out a little bit."
Bonitto and her husband, Ital, have been finding ways to give back to their community through their sale of artwork, clothing and natural skin and hair products under the Rastar name. But the couple has music in their heritage, as Ital's uncle is currently a member of Black Uhuru. They decided to "follow what (they) really want to do: Produce positive music." Now with the rise of V.I. reggae, the label's founders want to "bridge the gap between Jamaican and V.I. reggae artists."
To accomplish both the goals of Rastar and HTYF, Bonitto said the label is planning "A Night of Positive Music," a concert in August to raise money for the electronic donations the foundation hopes to collect. "I think V.I. reggae music is everlasting," Bonitto said. "Their messages go throughout time and will be relevant today as well as tomorrow."
The response to V.I. reggae in Europe is immense, and "nothing brings people together like music," she said. Bonitto hopes music will also bring people out in August to help advance education in the territory.
For more information on Rastar Productions and the artists on the label, check out the company's website.
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