Photo : Sagicor St Kitts and Nevis Team with the Principal of the Cecely Brown Integrated School
Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis: In honour of its 180th anniversary, leading financial services institution Sagicor, set out at the beginning of 2021, to complete 180 random acts of kindness across the Caribbean in a year’s time. Team members from across the organisation’s Southern Caribbean territories rallied together towards one common goal, bringing smiles to the faces of strangers, assisting in uplifting worthy causes, and donating to numerous charities across the region. By the end of December 2021, the team, surpassed the target, performing a total of 192 acts of kindness.
Acts of Kindness took various forms and ranged from monetary and in-kind donations to donations of time and effort. They included distributions of care packages to front-line workers, to kids’ clothing and book drives. The team also used special occasions throughout the year, to maximize on the groupwide charitable endeavor.
During Breast Cancer Awareness month, recipients benefited from gift certificates for complimentary breast examinations while on Mother’s Day, lucky mothers were treated to flowers and other treats. COVID also presented several opportunities to give back, with many schools receiving donations of devices for online learning. Additionally, on World Kindness Day and International Day of Kindness, efforts were ramped up with communities benefiting from several meal distribution programmes. During the recently concluded Christmas period, the teams mobilized further, using the initiative to spread much-needed Christmas joy and cheer. During the holidays, clients, community organisations, and members of the public received donations of Christmas presents, free tickets to events, donations of Christmas hampers including hams and cake, and Sagicor-branded items.
Sagicor’s President and CEO, Robert Trestrail said the project was a symbol of gratitude. “180 years is a significant milestone. For almost two centuries, we have been operating in the Caribbean and we wanted to show appreciation to our Caribbean people for their trust and confidence in us over this time. What better way to do so than to give back to the very communities that have helped us prosper and so it was our honour to be able to serve and give back in this way.”
He added, “The teams across the region thoroughly enjoyed fulfilling this initiative, at times, the pandemic presented some challenges but we found creative and safe ways to drive the initiative forward. It truly was a labour of love for the team, and we look forward to even more opportunities to live our Vision, to be a great company, committed to improving the lives of the people in the communities in which we operate.”