Cable Bahamas wasted no time in providing support to those residents most impacted by the ravages of Hurricane Irma. According to Vice President of Marketing, David Burrows, “While our primary objective was to ensure the continuity of services across all business entities and the quick restoration of any impacted services, our relief teams were mobilised from before the storm hit. We liaised with shelter administrators where the evacuees were housed at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gym and New Providence Community Centre (NPCC) to ensure they had a means of staying up to date with the latest news and entertainment.”
The communications provider made an executive decision to not only provide support post hurricane but to also release a prototype TV app to evacuees, shelter administrators and Royal Bahamas Defence Force officers residing at the two shelters. “This was an easy decision,” Burrows stated. “A category 5 hurricane was barreling towards The Bahamas and we held an app that we knew would be a life changer to those impacted.” According to the VP, the company will launch their TV anywhere app; REVGO Play to the public later this year. Shelter residents were able to watch local and international news as well as movies on the app.
REV staff also jumped into action to supply non-perishable items to those less fortunate than themselves. Marketing Manager, Melissa Colebrook thanked staff for their generosity adding, “REV staff gave from the heart. Not only did they donate goods, but they gave of their time by helping to feed and entertain the families housed at NPCC, as well as boxing up goods for shipping”. The communications company provided food and entertainment throughout the week following Hurricane Irma as well as giving a helping hand to local charity, Hands for Hunger. “We immediately reached out to our partners; the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA), National Culinary Team member and local restaurateur Chef Owen Bain as well as Milo Butler Distributors, to provide relief to those most impacted,” stated Colebrook.
According to BHTA President, Carlton Russell, the relief efforts could only be described as “immensely gratifying”. The executive continued, “Cable Bahamas’ efforts to engage a National Culinary Team Member; a top Bahamian Chef, to feed the families who were in the care of Pastor Matthew Sweeting and his incredible team at the NPCC Shelter post Hurricane Irma, was greatly appreciated. It was truly heartwarming to see how many people; businesses, schools, corporate citizens like Cable Bahamas, rushed to assist those of affected by Irma.”
Jevon Butler, Sales & Marketing Manager at Milo Butler Distributors expressed similar sentiments, “As a company with customers throughout The Bahamas, we wanted to contribute to the recovery efforts. Full restoration of the impacted islands will require the support of corporate Bahamas and we are committed to doing our part at Milo Butler to assist our fellow Bahamians wherever possible. We are our brother’s keepers.”
Chef Bain added, “I thought it was a great initiative. It’s always an honor and pleasure to help the brothers and sisters of your nation. Coming together with the team and having Suzanne (Pattusch) reach out to me was humbling and honoring for me. It added a little bit of stress factor with having to run my restaurant, but whenever you have someone in desperate need it always feels good to be able to assist.”
CBL apologised to their subscribers for any issues impacting the network that were as a result of severe weather systems like these and encouraged REV customers to reach out to the company and report any issues they may experience. The communications giant confirmed that they were closely monitoring Hurricane Maria as it tracks towards The Bahamas.
About Cable Bahamas Ltd.
Cable Bahamas is the communications provider of choice and the first to offer triple play (voice, video, data) services in The Bahamas. In 2013, Cable Bahamas expanded its operations to Florida by acquiring four telecommunications providers and merged them into Summit Broadband, offering businesses and consumers a nearly 500-mile fibre-optic backbone connecting south Florida, west Florida and central Florida. Cable Bahamas offers telephony, broadband Internet, cable TV and data transport services under the brand names REVOICE, REVON and REVTV in the Bahamas and as Summit Broadband in Florida, to both home and business customers throughout the Bahamas, southwest Florida and central Florida. The company also offers dark fibre transport to enterprise and carrier customers. In The Bahamas, the company also created the Cable Bahamas Cares Foundation, which has awarded over $2 million to local Bahamian non-profit organisations since its inception. For more information, please visit the company website at www.cablebahamas.com, follow on Twitter @cablebahamas or visit the company Facebook page at www.facebook.com/GetRevdUp.
