Collection drive nets $7,000
Volunteers for the Cayman Islands Cancer Society shook their collection tins at strategic locations around the island 23 and 24 September, raising more than CI$7,000.
Christine Sanders, education and office manager of the society, explained that this is the second time it has held the Shake A Tin Donation Drive.
‘We’d done it two years ago and it was fairly successful, so the board of the society decided it was a fund-raising event we could hold to raise both money and public awareness,’ she said.
Hurricane Ivan prevented a similar fundraiser last year, but Ms Sanders hopes to hold it again the same time in 2006. The drive held in 2003 raised CI$2,590, according to Joanne Diaz-Berry of the society.
She added that 51 volunteers, including the majority of the society’s board, Ms Sanders and herself, took part in this latest fundraiser.
The response this year was very enthusiastic, according to Ms Sanders.
‘We had people that looked at us and then said, ‘Follow me to my car,’ and then they would tip all the loose change they had collected into our tins,’ she said.
The funds raised will go towards the society’s ongoing financial aid programme for cancer patients, community education awareness campaigns, community equipment loans, vouchers and public service announcements, Ms Diaz-Berry explained.
Volunteers were allowed to stand in front of the following businesses: Butterfield Bank, Cayman National Bank, FirstCaribbean International Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, AL Thompson’s Home Depot, Cox Lumber, Fort Street Market, Foster’s Food Fair, Hurley’s Supermarket, Kirk Supermarket, Subway and Cable & Wireless. Cayman Coating supplied the tins.
‘The event was a great way to re-energize our volunteers and their involvement with the society as well as recruit new volunteers. We truly appreciate their participation, support and interest in the society – without them the drive would not have been possible and would not have been the success that it was,’ Ms Sanders said.
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