News Releases

Donations Pour in at UWI Global Giving Week Launch in Saint Lucia

For Release Upon Receipt - July 15, 2016

St. Augustine


The UWI Open Campus, Saint Lucia. 15 July 2016. The University of the West Indies’ Global Giving Week was launched in Saint Lucia on July 8, 2016 as part of an ongoing awareness campaign for the initiative. The launch was hosted by Her Excellency, Dame Pearlette Louisy, Governor General of Saint Lucia, who also demonstrated her support as a patron for the campaign by donating EC$5,000. Her Excellency’s generous contribution was followed by an EC$10,000 donation by Eastern Caribbean Financial Holdings (ECFH); EC$5,000 from Saint Lucia native, The Honourable Dr Winston C. V. Parris; EC$2,500 from the local UWI Alumni Association  chapter; EC$2,000 from the Saint Lucia Teacher’s Credit Cooperative; US$2,000 from the staff of Invest Saint Lucia and pledges from a number of other individuals and organisations.   

In an effort to accelerate its drive for self-sufficiency The UWI has launched Global Giving Week, (carded for August 1-7, 2016). The new fundraising model under the theme: Emancipate, Educate, Donate, marks the beginning of what is hoped will become an annual tradition to cultivate support to strengthen The UWI’s capacity to drive regional development. Global Giving Week has already been launched at the other campuses—Mona, Jamaica, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Cave Hill, Barbados, and the Belize Open Campus Site and will continue garnering support across other Open Campus sites leading up to August. 

The Saint Lucia launch was attended by Sir George Alleyne, UWI Chancellor and global patron of the initiative; Dr Luz Longsworth, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of The UWI Open Campus; Dr Veronica Simon, Head of the Open Campus Saint Lucia Site; The Honourable Dr Gale Rigobert, Minister for Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development; and the Honourable Dr Ubaldus Raymond, Minister in the Ministry of Finance.  

In her introductory remarks Dr Veronica Simon underscored the role of The UWI in the region, while Sir George Alleyne gave a rallying call to all UWI alumni to support the work of the regional University which had given birth to leaders in all spheres across the entire region and the world. 

Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, UWI Vice-Chancellor, was unable to attend but sent a video message, in which he exhorted Caribbean peoples to take collective responsibility for their freedom and development. He called on the University’s community of graduates and supporters to “give generously to our scholarship and Endowment Funds for students in need of assistance…so as to strengthen and expand the emancipation mission we all imagine for our youth.” 

In her address, Dr Luz Longsworth reiterated that appeal to alumni, well-wishers and others to give generously. “We can do this, but we must do it together.” She emphasized that the Global Giving campaign is the start of a movement to join hands with our alumni and friends and not a begging campaign.  “This is the start of a revolution of how we take charge of our destiny in this region. We need to ensure we have to plan for the unknown and anticipate the unexpected. The Global Giving campaign is one way in which we can all become a part of that unimaginable future.”

 

The UWI Open Campus Saint Lucia received a total of EC$29, 876.40 in commitments.  For more on giving to UWI visit: www.uwi.edu/giving

 

End

 

 

About The UWI Giving Week

The annual UWI Global Giving Week initiative is intended to be a frontline programme in a campaign aimed at developing the culture of philanthropy toward regional development. A series of campus specific launch events have successfully set the stage for the August 01-07 Giving Week, engaging and introducing community members, alumni, friends of The UWI, donor organisations and private sector organisations to the Emancipate, Educate and Donate theme for the programme which coincides with region-wide activities marking Emancipation. Proceeds of the UWI Global Giving Week programme will go toward funding students, research, facilities and equipment, construction and maintenance of residence halls as well as faculty and sport programmes across the institution.  For more information on the annual UWI Global Giving Week visit www.uwi.edu/giving.

 

About The UWI

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. For more information, visit http://www.uwi.edu/

 

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence

Contact