Hurricane Charity T20 raises almost $.9m

JELANI BECKLES

A CHEQUE worth $887,038 will go towards the rehabilitation of the Caribbean countries devastated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September last year. The money was raised after a Hurricane Relief Charity T20 cricket match was held between the Red Force and a Caribbean Select XI at the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair, in October. Some of the affected countries that will benefit from the gesture are Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda.

Yesterday, members of the TT Cricket Board (TTCB) and Queen’s Park Cricket Club (QPCC) held a press conference at the Queen’s Park Oval to present the cheque to United Way TT who will be on the ground in the two countries working with other organisations to help expedite the recovery efforts.

Baldath Mahabir, an executive member of the TTCB, said the local governing body felt it had to help out. “On hearing and seeing the devastation wreaked by these horrible storms, our cricket fraternity felt that we must reach out to our Caribbean neighbours,” Mahabir said.

“In so many ways, cricket has enjoined us as a community. It has brought us closer together in joy and happiness, culturally, and these days spiritually, as we could only pray for a renaissance of West Indies cricket.”

Mahabir also recalled how the match was organised. So SPORTT (Sport Company), TTCB and QPCC came together rather quickly to brainstorm how we can contribute. The idea of a cricket match was mooted and this found favour amongst all. Date, time and venue thanks to QPCC were set and the work began. A T20 cricket match between a Caribbean XI and the Red Force was our preferred option, and from there things moved swiftly.”

Among the areas that the money will go towards are the supply of building materials and school furniture, while training would be provided to the citizens of Dominica in basic building trades.

Some of the sponsors of the charity match were First Citizens, Carib, LCB Contractors and Bmobile.

Karen Darbasie, director of the Donations Committee at United Way TT and Group CEO at First Citizens explained the goal of United Way.

“Our purpose is really to improve the lives of high need communities and individuals by engaging and mobilising resources for a better tomorrow. And what better example of trying to assist the high need youth and areas outside of TT? We focus on what is negative in TT but we have to realise there are very positive things and the fact that we can come together as a country, as a community, and give back to those who are even less fortunate than us outside of TT is really something that we should be proud of,” Darbasie said.

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