New Providence, The Bahamas, December 17, 2008 - As part of its Christmas celebration this year, The Bahamas Telecommunications Company Limited, BTC, today announced that the company will give a portion of its allocation for corporate Christmas functions to support programs for the less fortunate in our communities. The sum total of these donations equal $40,000.
The Salvation Army, Great Commission Ministries and The Red Cross were the beneficiaries of these gifts from BTC. The Salvation Army and Great Commission Ministries were given $10,000 each. The funds will assist their feeding programs. The Red Cross was given $20,000, and these funds will assist the feeding programs of the Red Cross in Grand Bahama and the Family Islands.
"In these tough economic times, we at BTC felt that it was only right to make a special effort to give back this Christmas," said I. Kirk Griffin, President and CEO (Acting). "Our charitable contributions and community involvement demonstrates our unparalleled commitment to good corporate citizenship and our support for social policy priorities," Griffin continued.
The year 2008 has been economically challenging for the country. With hundreds of people losing their jobs, and with the recent economic downturn, BTC thought it fittingly appropriate to carry out such a gesture.
"We made a corporate decision to scale back our customary Christmas parties on all of the islands and instead hold small Christmas socials and luncheons," noted Griffin. "The management and staff also enthusiastically embraced the proposal that we donate a portion of the money that we would have spent on Christmas parties to those less fortunate persons."
"This donation is a testament to the generosity of BTC and its employees. Christmas has always been a season of giving, and we are grateful to have committed supporters like BTC that allow us to help families and individuals in need," said Major Lester T. Ferguson, Divisional Commander for The Salvation Army.
For seventy-seven years The Salvation Army has been instrumental in providing assistance to needy. The organization has several branches including Family Services, Character Building, Army's Friends, Disaster Services, Women's Shelter, Workshop for Blind Adults, Erin Gilmour School for the Blind, Feeding Center, Family Thrift Stores, Senior Programs and Spiritual Life.
"On behalf of Bishop Walter S. Hanchell, the Board of Directors and the staff of Great Commission Ministries International, I wish to express our sincere gratitude to the management and staff of BTC for their donation. This gift has come at a time when we are experiencing a great increase in clients coming to our headquarters especially for food and emergency shelter. This donation will assist us in our various feeding programmers, our operational expenses and Save the Children Programme. We commend BTC for being a community-minded corporation and we appreciate their assistance in the fight against poverty and crime in our nation," said Minalee Hanchell, Executive Director.
Great Commission Ministries was founded in the Bahamas in 1987. The organization offers several services including homeless shelters for men, women and children, a food bank, a feeding centre, a Hope House drug rehabilitation program, a youth club, a homework and reading center, a counseling center and much more.
In 2007, BTC gave more than $750,000 to community organizations, the youth, sports and culture. |