Sandals Foundation Stays Busy Supporting Caribbean Community with New Initiatives

January 21, 2024 - Sandals Foundation - Jamaica

The Sandals Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Sandals Resorts International, continues to spearhead its mission of bettering the Caribbean region through community, education and environmental outreach. Each year, the Foundation elects a number of projects to be taken under its arms and funded through donations and fundraising events by generous donors and volunteers. Recently, the foundation made a significant impact in the Caribbean by providing free health care to thousands of adults and children in Jamaica, hosting teacher workshops encouraging environmental preservation, and promoting debate clubs in schools. Read below to find out more.

Don Daly Medical Mission Impacts Thousands: Close to 2,000 residents in the Jamaican parishes of Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth received free health care last month, thanks to the Don Daly Medical Mission, a 63-member team of volunteer doctors from Florida-based Nova Southeastern University. The mission, in partnership with Sandals Resorts International and the Sandals Foundation, saw doctors and medical students hosting 12 clinics over a four-day period treating respiratory illnesses, hypertension, diabetes, aches and pains, vision impairments, skin conditions and allergies in both adults and children. In addition to free health care, members of the community were also able to have prescriptions filled by pharmacists and receive reading glasses from optometrists. More than 90 children from the Sandals Foundation-adopted and supported Culloden Early Childhood and Whitehouse Basic Schools received pediatric healthcare during the initiative. Key sponsors for the mission included MoneyGram, Jamaica National Building Society, GraceKennedy, Caribbean Airlines, Lasco and The Kingston-Miami Trading Company.

Sandals Foundation, Catholic Board of Education and Bahamas National Trust Reach Out to Over 200 Educators to Promote Environmental Awareness: In keeping with its commitment to teacher training and environmental preservation, the Sandals Foundation recently partnered with the Catholic Board of Education (CBOE) and the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) to host development seminars for 240 educators across the Bahamas under the theme “Preserving Our Environment.” The seminars did not take the format of traditional workshops; instead, administrators and teachers engaged in an interactive experience facilitated by the BNT at Bahamian national parks. They toured, touched and learned about land and marine life indigenous to the islands of the Bahamas. The Sandals Foundation hopes participants will in turn be able to deliver these important lessons to 3,000 children in eight schools across the Bahamas.

Ferncourt High Cops 1^st Place in Sandals Foundation Digicel Foundation Debate Mate Jamaica Cup:  Debate Mate Jamaica, the sister organization of a London based charity Debate Mate, culminated its pilot program with a national inter-school debating competition. St. Ann, Jamaica’s Ferncourt High copped first place, earning them the Sandals Foundation Digicel Foundation Debate Mate Jamaica Cup. With over 400 students from 19 secondary schools competing, energies were high as teams battled not only for first place, but also for the regional prizes. Among the judges for the final debate were: His Excellency David Fitton, the British High Commissioner, Karlene Dawson, Digicel Foundation Board Director and Keith Collister, Chairman of the Sandals Foundation. In Jamaica, Debate Mate’s core program consists of after-school debating clubs led by inspirational mentors who are students at the University of the West Indies, University of Technology and Mico. The program lasts 10 weeks and is targeted at students aged 11-15 years. More than 500 students have gone through the program this year with plans for more in the new school year.

The Sandals Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was created to continue and to expand upon the philanthropic work that Sandals Resorts International has undertaken. It is the culmination of three decades of dedication to playing a meaningful role in the lives of the communities where we operate across the Caribbean. The Sandals Foundation funds projects in three core areas: education, community and the environment. One hundred percent of the monies contributed by the general public to the Sandals Foundation go directly to programs benefiting the Caribbean community.

To learn more about the Sandals Foundation, visit online at www.sandalsfoundation.org.