Glacial Ice, BWA, BDF deliver help to rural residents

Thanks to a timely donation from Glacial Ice (Barbados) Ltd., water relief came last Sunday to hundreds of Barbadians in communities in St. Thomas, St. John, St. Andrew, and St. Lucy, which continue to be affected by water scarcity.

Glacial Ice teamed up with the Barbados Water Authority (BWA), and Barbados Defence Force (BDF), to donate 3,508 bottles of Glacial Pure purified water, for delivery to affected households across the four parishes.

Volunteers from the Barbados Youth Advocacy Corps (BYAC) joined personnel from the BWA, BDF, and Glacial Ice executives, including managing director Justin St John, to assist in delivering two 5-Litre bottles of water each per household, for a target of 1,754 households.

The managing director said Glacial was committed to giving back and assisting people through alleviating the scarcity of potable water in communities in Barbados, and also regionally in times of crisis, such as was done for hurricane relief in Dominica, and recently following the La Soufrière eruption in St. Vincent.

“As a manufacturer of high-quality Purified Water, we see this as our way of giving back to people and communities in need; in this case we reached out to partner with the BWA, who coordinated assistance from the BDF and BYAC.

Our goal is simply to assist Barbadians in communities that are most affected by water shortages, delivering water to those people that are in need, who we know are also supporters and customers of our Business,” St John said.

St John thanked the Management and volunteers from the BWA, BDF, BYAC, and Glacial Ice staff members for their assistance towards the successful donation effort.

Also speaking as delivery got underway on Sunday, Barbados Water Authority’s General Manager Keithroy Halliday was full of praise for Glacial Ice for taking the initiative and approaching the BWA.

He said the partnership with Glacial was just one of several initiatives that the BWA was pursuing under a task force put in place to address water scarcity.

Halliday’s sentiments were supported by Chairman of the Barbados Water Authority Stevon Roberts who was also on hand to see off the delivery effort.

Roberts thanked Glacial Ice and all other parties involved, for reaching out to support BWA customers who are in need. He called on members of the Barbados private sector to join in what would be a continuing effort, by donating funds towards ensuring the future success of similar donations of bottled water. (PR)