Thousands of Haitian children have a better chance of achieving their dream after Sagicor Financial Corporation gave US$155 212 (BDS$310 424) to the Haiti Fund through UNICEF at the insurance giant’s headquarters in Wildey yesterday morning.
In making the presentation to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) area manager Tom Olsen, Sagicor Group chief operations officer Richard Kellman said the company chose to make the contribution via UNICEF because . . . “all the money from our donation will go to the children of Haiti”.
“In addition, UNICEF concentrates on helping children, and this focus is a fitting match for us since as you all know, our images of children portray the very essence of what Sagicor represents,” Kellman said.
The operations chief added that Sagicor had pledged to contribute US$250 000 to assist the people of Haiti and by matching the staff donation the Sagicor Group had already donated US$290 956.
Kellman disclosed that Sagicor had also contributed US$125 744 to four organisations providing relief in Haiti, namely the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Partners in Health, and Project 81.
Partners in Health, which has been working for more than 20 years in Haiti, is an organisation which brings modern health care to communities in 12 countries worldwide.
Project 81, named after Village 81 in Haiti, was formed when former Sagicor representatives Annie and Jared Brown visited the nation and then decided to raise awareness of Haiti’s plight through the arts and other creative ways to reach individuals as an alternative approach to humanitarian services.
Olsen expressed UNICEF’s appreciation for the contribution from Sagicor, which he described as an investment in giving the children of Haiti a chance at education and health services and thus a better way of life.
The UNICEF representative added that even more significant about the support from Sagicor was that the corporation was still assisting although many other companies had faded into the background after the hype from the tragedy was no longer played out in the media. (KB)
