Sagicor gives 3 NGOs a helping hand

VISHANNA PHAGOO

For the rest of the year, Sagicor will be supporting non-governmental organisations (NGO) to ensure people receive the help they need by financially supporting the NGOs with an excess of US$30,000. Sagicor will also help the organisations in acquiring the necessary equipment for the projects launched.

The three successful NGOs out of over 250 submissions are Servol in TT, the Deaf Heart Project in Barbados and the Lake Health and Well-being in St Kitts and Nevis.

Paul Inniss, executive vice president of Sagicor, Barbados said the Helping Hands initiative was created because there are many individuals and groups in the Caribbean that need support to continue alleviating pain and suffering in the communities they serve.

"Therefore, we are of the view that there is room for every one in the Caribbean to lend a helping hand where they can. The truth is there is no version of our society that can succeed with people or organisations acting in isolation," Inniss added.

He said one focus of the group is to improve the lives of those in the communities they operate in and so Helping Hands will be a part of a wider project called Living in Our Vision Everyday (Love). Love is focused on helping NGOs that follow its pillars – health, community and youth development, sport and education.

"Helping Hands, therefore, helps to round out our group corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities by supporting another foundational institutional area of our community, the NGOs. The fact is that NGOs, charities and service organisations do much of the important work needed to move our societies forward and it is often the valiant efforts of regular people who are brave enough to take up the mantle of a cause and bring awareness to a national or global issue."

Inniss said they are excited about this initiative and being able to help these NGOs as it will benefit people across the Caribbean.

Communications and brand experience manager Keisha Humphrey Mayers added that the NGOs Sagicor will be working with are registered ones in the Caribbean. She said although three were chosen for this programme, given it ends in December, more NGOs will have a chance to better their communities and by extension, the region. She then explained the process for interested NGOs to get their chance.

She explained that Servol was chosen because its focus is on early childhood care and life training development which is done through its adolescent development programme. Servol also offers teacher training, education and skills training, and parent support.

"We will be assisting with some technology upgrades and we were really moved by the fact that in addition to holistic education with their skills training programme helps students who received low scores in the SEA examination."

She said the Lake Health Well-being aims to improve the health and well-being of local, regional, and online communities through research, public health interventions, and health education events and campaigns. They will be assisted through Sagicor's offer of training workshops for people with non-communicable diseases living in St Kitts and Nevis.

She also added that the Deaf Heart Project was selected as it serves the deaf community in Barbados and across the region in terms of empowerment and development of deaf people to bridge the gap between the deaf and hearing world. Sagicor will assist them with equipment for the deaf - hearing aids for the underprivileged, laptops, noise-cancelling headphones, and alarm systems.