Trailers are often used for towing small cars, transporting animals or carrying heavy cargo. But a group of local entertainers are using it for a higher purpose — to bring music and healing to communities throughout the Island.Cleveland Simmons was part of a team that launched ‘Operation Put Back’ earlier this year, in a bid to “assist people who are less fortunate” than themselves.He said he noticed there were a lot of people in the community struggling, not only due to the surge of gun violence, but also the downturn in the economy. His solution? To get artists on board a trailer, aka a caravan, to share their talents and offer words of encouragement to brighten someone’s day.“We came up with the idea for a caravan because in the 60s and 70s I was involved in a bunch of music groups and to advertise and promote the group we put the band and instruments in the back of a truck and went to the neighbourhoods sharing our sound,” he said.Organisers tried the caravan out earlier this year at a street festival, designed to help children and families in the “back of town” area and give them a space to enjoy music, games and food.They found the caravan was a big success and decided to take it into other communities on a more regular basis.So far the group has spent two hours at Bailey’s Bay “playing music and giving out good words, talking love and encouraging people to love your fellow man as yourself,” he said.“In that time there were people constantly coming and going and there were people also in the Bailey’s Bay Club that came out.“We got very positive feedback and they wanted us to come back on the Friday night and said there would be a bigger crowd of people.“We ended up staying longer than planned because every time we were getting ready to leave a few people came in and people would say ‘This is good. We need to do more of it’.” Their next appearance will be at Selena’s restaurant on Mullet Bay Road, St George’s, on the Wednesday before Cup Match.They also plan to transport the music caravan to the west end for a Fish Fry, taking place at Robinson’s Marina on August 31.Mr Simmons, a member of community group The Young Progressives, is supported by a host of other entertainers, including singer Glen Iris, David (Papa D) Burch and Dennis Bean.He said they hope to communicate with artists from different parishes and encourage them to share their talents and lend a hand to their community.“We are pushing for the community to recognise there are some that are not as well off as ourselves,” he explained. “We have a bunch of mothers who have lost their sons and are struggling to do things for themselves and people who have lost their siblings and are physically and mentally struggling.“The artists who are taking part have donated their services in any way they can to assist and put something back into the community.”Mr Simmons said many in the community are fortunate enough to have nice cars and flat screen televisions, but said it’s also important to give back.He said: “We work hard and believe we deserve nice things, but I also believe if we put some of these things back into the community we can stop some of the negative things we have seen happen.“A lot of these young people come from [disadvantaged] communities and don’t have those material things that appear to be good and they get it by any means necessary, which creates a problem in the community.”He said they were also looking to offer advice to young men and say: 'Hey look, what you are doing is not cool. You are creating a problem, not only for yourself, but the country as a whole’.Correia’s Construction have sponsored the trailer; and other community members and businesses have come on board to show their support.Anyone interested in finding out more about the caravan programme, can contact Mr Simmons on 518-8061.