Bahamas Waste makes donation to All Saints Camp

Mon, Dec 12th 2016, 11:13 PM

In the spirit of Christmas and spreading the holiday cheer, the management and staff of Bahamas Waste made a donation of non-perishable food items to the All Saints Camp in recognition of World Aids Day.
The All Saints Camp, located off Carmichael Road, is a refuge for men, women and children diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, and currently has 60 residents.
Ernestine Lloyd, human resources manager at Bahamas Waste, said she was delighted to take part in the opportunity to lend assistance.
"When you realize all of the good work that the All Saints Camp does, it was easy for us to lend our assistance," said Lloyd.
Bahamas Waste annually offers both regular and medical garbage collection services to the Camp free of charge. "Bahamas Waste prides itself on being a good corporate citizen, and giving back to non-profit organizations like the All Saints Camp, is a part of our corporate responsibility," said Francisco de Cardenas, Bahamas Waste managing director.
"We have been lending our support, whether it has been by donating food items in this case, or through trash and medical waste collection. This is our third year now, and we do not intend on stopping."
Kashala Forbes, assistant administrator at the All Saints Camp, said the All Saints Camp is always grateful to corporate citizens like Bahamas Waste for assistance.
"The support they provide by collecting our garbage is already quite a donation. It was very surprising to see them offer even more assistance. These food items will go a long way in helping the work we do here at the camp. We are so thankful to them for their help," said Forbes.
She stressed the need for more companies to be like Bahamas Waste, to not only assist the All Saints Camp, but to also help other non-profit organizations.
"There is a lot that we do here with very limited resources. In addition to providing three meals a day, we also care for just under 20 kids that go to school full-time, so we need school uniforms, supplies and meals; our situation was further compounded by Hurricane Matthew, which caused severe damage to our kitchen, and as a result we ended up losing the majority of our food supply. This was a blessing to have Bahamas Waste stop by and give what they can," said Forbes.
Lloyd said that she was moved after speaking with the staff and residents of the camp.
"While we always try to be good corporate citizens, this donation goes deeper than that; [this] was about being human and helping our brothers and sisters. We must look beyond our prejudices towards persons with HIV/AIDS and help, as we would any charity," she said.
"One of the foundations of World AIDS Day is to eliminate the prejudice and discrimination persons with AIDS and HIV face," said Forbes. "As a high school student, I volunteered here at the camp, and I was motivated to come back full-time after talking to the residents and learning how they and even their families are discriminated against by the public. The residents here are humans and deserve to be treated with dignity. You can't contract the virus by talking to someone, by sitting down watching sports or talking politics, so it is important that we work toward ending the discrimination."
The camp accepts clothes and shoes, non-perishable food items, furniture and is looking for volunteers to assist with the repairs to the camp's kitchen.

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