Barbados’ national women’s team is showing care to those finding it difficult to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic that has left thousands of Barbadians jobless.
Today, captain of the senior women’s team Hayley Matthews presented Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Cynthia Forde with food vouchers to be distributed to vulnerable persons.
Forde noted that since the world wars this was the first time Barbados’ economy has been impacted by such a devastating economic crisis that was affecting many households across the island.
She said her Ministry has identified over 2000 vulnerable households through social workers, faith-based personnel, postmen and police officers providing relevant information.
Forde said the donation from the cricket team was going to go a long way in reaching the identified households.
“We will ensure with the help of our social workers that it trickles down into the community to those who need it the most. What you have done speaks volumes of what I know and have understood and experienced across the many years of working in the public service and in the classroom.
Barbados captain Hayley Matthews (left) making the presentation to Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Cynthia Forde today.
“I want to thank you sincerely for taking the time out to be able to come up with the idea and then to make this idea a reality by donating these couple thousand dollars of vouchers that persons can purchase essentials to help them to be able to live another day with the measure of hope that tomorrow will be better and brighter that they will never forget,” Forde said.
Forde also called on other sporting organizations to follow in the cricket team’s footsteps and make similar donations.
Meanwhile, manager of the team Betty Lewis said vice-captain Kycia Knight was the one who put forward the idea to assist the needy. Lewis said it was agreed that distributing the vouchers through the Ministry would be the better option in reaching those families in need.
The manager said that while some on the Barbados team were players on the West Indies cricket team, there were others who were students and some who were unemployed.
“But everybody decided to put something towards it and it made a great difference and being a director at the BCA it was easy for me to sell to the Board of Directors that this is what the women have put together and can you match it. And with that we have our final total which is a pretty decent total I would say.
“We are very happy to be part of giving back to Barbados especially at this time when we are experiencing something we probably will not have again probably in my lifetime. But we are happy we are in a position to make another family comfortable as it relates to their needs,” Lewis said.
Lewis called on other organizations to join the effort in assisting needy families.
