More walkers mean more funds will be raised and three notable local charities will get much needed help to carry out their programmes.
This was the message from managing director and chief executive officer of the Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited (ICBL), Geoffrey Scott, yesterday at the launch of the 2018 ICBL Family Fun Walk and Run.
Scott said the fun walk and run, now in its ninth year, had grown from 250 participants in its first year to well over 3 500 seen last year and they hoped to see thatnumber increase.
“We do this as one of the means we use to support the vital contributions registered non-governmental organisations make to the fabric of Barbadian society,” Scott said.
The 5K walk and 10K run will be held on April 28, National Heroes Day, under the theme Champions for Charity. Three charities will be beneficiaries; they are the Diabetes Association of Barbados and PAREDOS who were selected by ICBL management and leadership team. The third beneficiary will be selected by public voting via ICBL’s website.
Yesterday they officially opened the poll giving the public ten charities or causes to choose from.
Each charity will receive an equal share of the funds raised by the event.
President of the Diabetes Association of Barbados, Trudy Griffith, said they recognised there was an increasing need to address the health concerns of children in Barbados. The association disclosed recently that more children were being diagnosed with Type II diabetes.
Griffith said the association will launch an initiative this year targeting children. However, she said their reach was limited by financial concerns and expressed gratitude to ICBL.
Meanwhile, president of PAREDOS, Sheila Stuart, said it was the third year the group was selected to be a beneficiary.
She said PAREDOS provided a variety of free services to parents and children, including parenting classes, counselling, a radio broadcast programme calledPause for Parenting and though the day care and preschool, for which they had a long waiting list, catered to 150 children, charged a fee, it was not even enough to meet the administrative and operational costs.
Assistant vice president Life Division ICBL, Pamela Lowe, said the insurance company understood the value of good health and health care.
“We see it every day as it relates to claims we pay out to our valued customers, for the cost of treatment, medication and procedures that many Barbadians have to undergo for one medical condition or another,” she said. (LK)
