The Sandals Foundation is pleased to be selected as a charity partner as the Caribbean community across the United States hosts a Day of Giving mediathon on Saturday October 26th in support of the Northern islands of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas recently devastated by Hurricane Dorian. 

The 2019 mediathon is an all-day effort organized by the Caribbean Diaspora Disaster Relief Coalition to mobilize the Caribbean Diaspora and friends of the Caribbean to donate to the ongoing relief efforts to support displaced residents of Grand Bahama and the Abaco islands.

In addition to music, tv and radio programs will feature interviews with Caribbean Government officials as well as representatives of CARICOM, Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) among other agencies who will share their first-hand experiences with the devastating impact of climate change, and provide updates on the relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts. Ambassadors, Consuls General, elected officials, notable personalities, and community leaders will be present to encourage the community and friends of the Caribbean to give to this effort. 

Lead coordinator, Dr. Omyma David says the Caribbean Day of Giving offers an opportunity for the diaspora and friends of the Caribbean to respond “immediately with tremendous goodwill. “The catastrophic impact and frequency of recent Atlantic storms such as Hurricane Dorian is sadly the reality of the impact of climate change on our Caribbean islands. Each time, our diaspora and friends of the Caribbean responds immediately… however, the road to recovery is long and costly. Caribbean Day of Giving helps to build a culture of giving over the long-term.”

The humanitarian initiative builds on the success of the 2017 Caribbean Day of Giving (CDOG) initiative and has received the endorsement and support of the New York CARICOM Consular Corps and the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams among others.

Heidi Clarke, Executive Director of Sandals Foundation welcomes the initiative as “ a unique opportunity to help bring much needed relief supplies and contribute to the medium to long term rebuilding efforts that Sandals Foundation will be embarking on to bring normalcy to the lives of Northern Bahamians.”

Sandals Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Sandals Resorts International (SRI) and has been working alongside Bahamian emergency response teams like the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Team Rubicon UK to bring first relief and long-term recovery to those affected by the storm. Together, with the help of SRI staff, local, regional and international partners, the company has been able to provide meals and drinking water to hundreds of people in shelters, supply first response items, facilitate rescue missions in the most remote areas of the Northern Bahamas, aid medical response, provide funding to fuel emergency transportation of evacuees and aid workers and distribute school supplies to children relocated to Exuma.

Other charity partners to benefit from the mediathon are the Bahamian American Association Inc. (BAAI) in New York City, and American Foundation of the University of the West Indies (AFUWI).

Caribbean Day of Giving (CDOG) is organized by a Caribbean Diaspora Disaster Relief Coalition in response to recent devastating storms and the increasing vulnerability of our small island states.  This growing alliance of community leaders across the Caribbean diaspora was organized to help build capacity and strengthen response to natural disasters in the Caribbean region by promoting a collective response to disaster relief among the Caribbean diaspora.

Caribbean diaspora and friends of the Caribbean are encouraged to join the #Caribbeandayofgiving #Caribbeandiasporagiving campaign and visit the website: www.caribbeandayofgiving.com