CIBC FirstCaribbean holds food/clothes drive for Bahamas Urban Youth Development Centre

Mon, Jan 26th 2015, 01:49 PM

After a two week humanitarian drive, employees of CIBC FirstCaribbean collected over 20 boxes of canned food items, toys, clothing, shoes, baby supplies, and books for those in need. CIBC FirstCaribbean teamed up with the Bahamas Urban Youth Development Centre (BUYDC) for the charity organisation’s annual food and fund drive.

For two weeks in December CIBC FirstCaribbean Bahamas and its affiliates CIBC FirstCaribbean Private Wealth Management and CIBC Trust (Bahamas) hosted collection boxes in all of their Nassau units for employees to donate essential items for distribution. In addition, the bank donated cases of ham and turkey to brighten up the Christmas dinners of those in need.

Brent Haines, Centre Manager for the newly launched Private Wealth Management unit, stated that the bank encourages a culture of philanthropy and is happy to see the employees embrace and reflect that.

“Employees from all of our units in the Bahamas have enthusiastically contributed to this effort,” said Mr. Hanes. “In all of our philanthropic endeavours, we strive to make it more than a monetary gift, and to get the staff involved. This year, CIBC FirstCaribbean employees responded to that call in top fashion.”

Dan Wright, Chairman of CIBC Trust echoed Mr. Hanes stating that this drive was part of a larger CIBC mandate to give back. “CIBC understands how important it is to give back to the communities in which we all live and work. This donation is an example of our commitment to do just that. This is a very special time of year for all of us and the staff here sees it as a perfect opportunity to share with others who may not be as fortunate.”

The various goods collected by CIBC FirstCaribbean were distributed at the annual Hope for the Holidays fair held at Christie Park. At the event, BUYDC provided 500 hot meals to registered attendees and created a festive atmosphere complete with a DJ, a performance by the Urban Renewal Band, a bouncing castle, and lots of other activities for the children.

Prodesta Moore, President of the Bahamas Urban Youth Development Centre, stated that though the event is still in rather early days, she is excited to have the corporate support and looks forward to seeing the event and the Centre grow.

“This is only our second year hosting the Hope for the Holidays drive and event and we are very excited because it is the first year we have had corporate sponsors like CIBC FirstCaribbean come on board to help us,” said Mrs. Moore. “When we sent out the call for assistance and CIBC responded we were thrilled. They have done an excellent job, collecting a phenomenal number of items. I would say the amount they collected will provide for gifts and groceries to over 100 families!.”

The Bahamas Urban Youth Development Centre is a non-profit organisation aimed at helping Bahamian youth make healthy, safe choices regarding sexual activity. BUYDC provides HIV/AIDS prevention skills and tools to prevent unwanted pregnancies and STIs to middle and high school students. Recently BUYDC has targeted most-at-risk populations, particularly female adolescent girls, young women who engage in transactional sex, and female sex workers.

For more information on Bahamas Urban Youth Development Centre visit: www.bahamasurbanyouth.org

About CIBC FirstCaribbean

CIBC FirstCaribbean is the largest, regionally-listed bank in the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean serving over 500,000 accounts in 17 markets, through 3,000 staff, across 100 branches and offices.

The bank offers a full range of market-leading financial services in: Corporate and Investment Banking, Treasury Sales and Trading, Retail Banking, Wealth Management, Small Business and Credit Cards.

CIBC FirstCaribbean is a member of the CIBC Group. CIBC (TSX, NYSE: CM) is a leading North American financial institution serving clients in Canada and around the world. Through three distinct business lines, Retail and Business Banking, Wealth Management and Wholesale Banking, CIBC provides a full range of products and services to almost 11 million individual, small business and commercial banking clients and meets the financial needs of corporate and institutional clients. CIBC is rated A+/Stable/A-1 by Standard & Poor's.

For more information about CIBC FirstCaribbean, visit www.cibcfcib.com

(L-R) Brent Hanes Centre Manager for CIBC FirstCaribbean Private Wealth Management; Clistene Burrows, Bahamas Urban Youth Development Centre (BUYDC); Prodesta Moore, President, BUYDC; Dan Wright, Chairman of CIBC Trust, Nakera Symonette, CIBC FirstCaribbean Customer Relationship Management & Strategy.

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