Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation donates US$100,000 to United Way of Trinidad & Tobago after recent floods

  • Over US$1M committed to projects across the region since the Foundation was launched in 2017

Building partnerships for flood mitigation Standing from left: Cindy Ann Gatt, Director of Marketing, Flow Trinidad; Roger Babooram, HR Director, Flow, Southern Cluster; Denise Williams, C&W Foundation; Ellen Seed-Gray, Customer Loyalty Manager, Flow Trinidad; Jacinta Pinard, Brand Communications Manager, Flow Trinidad; Freida Khan, Regional Purchasing Manager Flow Trinidad; and Grace Gopie, Customer Loyalty. Seated, from left: Kendall Teloka, Resource Development Officer, United Way Trinidad & Tobago (UWTT); Elena Villafana-Sylvester, CEO, FEEL; Dr. Jennifer Sancho, CEO, UWTT; Subesh Rambachan, Chair, Bridge of Hope. (Photo: Business Wire)

MIAMI--()--Flood response and mitigation activities in Trinidad and Tobago will get a significant boost as the Cable and Wireless Charitable Foundation (CWCF) and Flow partner with the United Way of Trinidad and Tobago (UWTT) to donate US$100,000 to support a broad range of response programs across the island. The partnership will focus on rebuilding activities that specifically benefit vulnerable groups as well as a longer term awareness program to mitigate the impact of natural hazards.

Speaking on the importance of this partnership and how his Company responded to the recent floods, Flow’s Country Manager, Ian Serrao, said, “Immediately after the flood, Flow Trinidad initiated our disaster protocols to ensure our team members were safe and to ensure our customers would have access to critical communications services. We also activated our regional Foundation to support the broader humanitarian needs that have arisen. After several investigations, site visits and consultations we made the decision to partner with United Way of Trinidad and Tobago as the umbrella organization to manage the donation, given their extensive expertise in this area.”

UWTT’s CEO, Dr. Jennifer Sancho, said, “We have learnt from our regional experiences with support in Haiti after the 2012 Earthquake and in 2017 with Hurricane Relief mainly in Dominica and also some of other Regional neighbours. Communities and families affected by disasters need our continued support beyond the immediate crisis stage. Flooding has become devastating and relentless because of our rapid growth and effects of climate change. Flooding is not a one-off event. We need to prepare for the months ahead. UWTT strategic advantage is that we are a partner for the medium to longer term recovery, as life assumes some level of normalcy, particularly for those affected.”

This latest donation to Trinidad and Tobago by CWCF brings the total amount committed to rebuilding efforts across the region to more than US$1M since the Foundation was launched just over a year ago. Over $750,000 is earmarked to rebuild and re-equip educational facilities in Dominica, Anguilla, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), and these longer-term projects follow a donation of $100,000 to Shelterbox that helped address the immediate needs of those affected by the 2017 hurricanes across the region. The Foundation is also supporting longer term and resiliency programs across the region and has donated $25,000 to PR4PR in Puerto Rico, $25,000 to Curacao Cares and $20,000 to Jamaica to support activities to build resiliency among youth and vulnerable communities.

“The needs of the region are quite significant,” said Denise Williams, a Director at the Foundation and SVP Communications at Cable and Wireless. “This latest incident of flooding in Trinidad and Tobago demonstrates the vulnerability of our region and the need to come together to support a sustainable approach in building more resilient communities. We at the Foundation are proud to be part of the process. Our immediate priority is to help families and communities recover and get back to normal life but we are also focusing on longer term strategies and activities to mitigate against future natural hazards.”

The Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation supports programs that focus on recovery and mitigation activities across the region and is able to carry out its mission with generous support of its donors, employees and partners https://www.cwc.com/live/corporate-responsibility/cable-wireless-foundation.html

To find out more about the Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation, visit cwc.com, or follow C&W Communications on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

About Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation

The Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation was set up by C&W Communications as a response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the devastating hurricanes in 2017. The Foundation focuses on both critical rehabilitation projects and longer-term sustainability programs. The Foundation is funded by C&W Communications, part of the Liberty Latin America group of companies, its employees, as well as a variety of partners and other donors. To find out more about the Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation, visit Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation.

About C&W Communications

C&W, part of the Liberty Latin America group of companies, is a full-service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers. In Dominica, C&W operates the brands Flow and C&W Business. C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network – the most extensive in the region.

Learn more at www.cwc.com, Flow | Trinidad

About Liberty Latin America

Liberty Latin America is a leading telecommunications company operating in over 20 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean under the consumer brands VTR, Flow, Liberty, Más Móvil, BTC and Cabletica. The communications and entertainment services that we offer to our residential and business customers in the region include digital video, broadband internet, telephony and mobile services. Our business products and services include enterprise-grade connectivity, data center, hosting and managed solutions, as well as information technology solutions with customers ranging from small and medium enterprises to international companies and governmental agencies. In addition, Liberty Latin America operates a sub-sea and terrestrial fiber optic cable network that connects over 40 markets in the region.

Liberty Latin America has three separate classes of common shares, which are traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbols "LILA" (Class A) and "LILAK" (Class C), and on the OTC link under the symbol "LILAB" (Class B).

For more information, please visit www.lla.com.

About United Way

United Way Trinidad & Tobago (UWTT) advances the common good by creating opportunities for a better life for all. Our focus is on Education, Youth and Family. Through a variety of efforts, UWTT encourages others to give, advocate, volunteer and LIVE UNITED. Our core values include Passion for helping others, Empathy, Collective Working, and Accountability.

UWTT was incorporated as a non-profit organization in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in 1999, modeled after the United Ways in Canada. We operate, part of the United Way Worldwide (UWW) Network, as a national Foundation mobilizing resources, financial and in kind, for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) providing social services to the most vulnerable in our society.

Over the past 15 years, we have awarded over TT$50 million in grants to nearly 100 CSOs. About 50% of our funding goes to youth, principally through our support to Children’s homes, 30% to education particularly to CSOs providing special needs education and 20% for family life. We raise our funds primarily through Workplace Campaigns in which we work with about 70 Corporate Partners to engage their employees to give through payroll deductions as a single regular monthly transaction. About 3,300 individuals give through these Campaigns.

Visit uwtt.com for more information.

Contacts

Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation
Denise Williams: Dwilliams@cwc.com
or
Media contact, Flow Caribbean:
Wendy McDonald | wamcdonald@cwc.com

Release Summary

Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation donates US$100,000 to United Way of Trinidad & Tobago after recent floods

Contacts

Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation
Denise Williams: Dwilliams@cwc.com
or
Media contact, Flow Caribbean:
Wendy McDonald | wamcdonald@cwc.com