Sagicor has announced that its initial financial contribution following the passage of Hurricane Beryl will support the purchase of generators and solar streetlamps in Carriacou and Petite Martinque in Grenada and Union Island and the other areas affected in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Robert Trestrail, Group President and Chief Executive Officer for Sagicor Life Inc, shared this information even as the teams in Grenada and St Vincent began mobilizing their support on the ground in the days following the immediate passage of the hurricane, starting with donations from the local Sagicor teams.
He said, “Our executives on the ground in St Vincent and Grenada – Stanley Browne and Cherryl-Ann Boca led our initial response and have been talking to the local disaster agencies to assess immediate need so we were able to respond accordingly. As a result, in the days after the passage of this terrible hurricane, we would have provided bottled water and canned food to support immediate relief efforts and our conversations with the officials at the national disaster management agencies in both countries revealed that lack of power is a huge issue the islands impacted, so we are focusing our effort there.”
Trestrail continued, “In light of this we were happy to use local suppliers to source generators and solar streetlamps to donate to Carriacou and Petite Martinique. For Union Island in St Vincent and the Grenadines we have spoken to them about providing similar items but will confirm once we have sourced them as we are in contact with suppliers off-island. These conversations are happening currently.”
Donald Austin, Chief Executive Officer for Sagicor Life (Eastern Caribbean) Inc provided an overarching viewpoint saying, “Sagicor has been part of these communities for over 100 years; as a result, we attempt to ensure our response is as local as possible. Utilising suppliers on the ground means we provide some commercial support to these affected countries. Our response is also quite layered, so in the immediate hours after Beryl we ensured the well-being of our team members and their families, we checked in on as many of our clients as possible – via advisors and our customer service teams and then we work to support the national response.”
“Furthermore,” Austin said, “the team members in countries that aren’t affected currently are also encouraged to donate and they are always highly supportive. This is the approach we will be utilizing for the duration of this season.”
Both Trestrail and Austin commended the work being done by the teams on the ground to support their countrymen and have been in touch with them daily, since Hurricane Beryl passed through the Eastern Caribbean on Monday 1st July.