Part of Region-wide ‘Mission’ to Support Hurricane-ravaged Islands
PRESS RELEASE – JOHN Reid, CEO of Cable & Wireless, along with Jeffrey Baptiste, General Manager Flow Dominica and other top executives and employees, spent the day with the residents of CHANCES, a home for at-risk children in Dominica as part of a region-wide initiative to celebrate the Company’s mission of Connecting Communities…Transforming Lives.
“Mission Day” is an annual C&W company-wide activity to celebrate the “connections” with communities that the Company serves. This year, the focus of all 24 C&W operations from Cayman to Colombia was to garner support for the islands impacted by Hurricanes Maria and Irma. Teams across the region led a variety of activities, from fundraisers to community engagement activities, to continue to raise funds and awareness for the hurricane-affected islands. From Saint Lucia, thousands of dollars’ worth of books and toys were donated for onward shipment to the children of Dominica.
In the Nature Isle specifically, efforts centred on support to CHANCES, home to twenty-one children. The goal was to help restore the home after the facility was left uninhabitable from floods and dangerous debris. The team started the “Mission” early: removing debris and clearing the grounds of dangerous wires and branches to restore a safe environment for the residents. At the end of the day, residents had a clean, safe facility as well as a brand new and much-needed refrigerator.
Dominica was one of the islands most severely impacted by Hurricane Maria and will continue to be a focus for support for C&W through the newly-established Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation. According to Reid, the Foundation — which has raised over US$1 million to date — initiated support and relief activities through a grant to Shelter Box to provide essential supplies to families across the region, including Dominica.
“We will now build on these initial activities by working with local leadership teams to identify areas of greatest need,” Reid explained.
Flow’s General Manager, Jeffrey Baptiste, who is currently leading intensive network rebuilding efforts so that Dominica can continue to receive essential communication services, views the rebuilding process as more than just restoration of Flow services.
“It is important that we work hand in hand with the community, especially our vulnerable groups, and rebuild Dominica together,” said Baptiste.
The residents of CHANCES, and its Managing Director Ava Roach, were extremely appreciative of the efforts.
“It’s been more than two months since Hurricane Maria, but it’s still a long way to recovery for Dominicans and particularly the children of the home,” Roach said. “The debris was a constant reminder to the children of what happened on the night of September 18and I am pleased that it has all been removed.”
She also expressed her sincere appreciation for the new refrigerator, essential to the residents of CHANCES.
Acting Prime Minister Reginald Austrie also took the opportunity to meet with Reid to discuss how the Cable & Wireless Foundation could further support the recovery and relief efforts in Dominica.