News

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Cayman Islands, local specialist property and casualty reinsurance company, Greenlight Re, has donated US$100,000 to charitable organizations helping Cayman residents most in need.

Guided by its principles of caring for the Cayman community, Greenlight Re’s Charity Committee chose R3, ARK and the Cayman Food Bank as the three organizations they wished to support.

R3, which was established in May 2020 in response to the unprecedented human and economic hardship resulting from the pandemic, has received US$50,000 from Greenlight Re. The remaining US$50,000 has been split equally between ARK (Cayman Acts of Random Kindness) and the Cayman Food Bank.

Simon Burton, CEO of Greenlight Re, said, “As a Cayman Islands headquartered organization, we are passionate about our community and we wanted to ensure that we are doing our part to help in this time of need. ARK and the Cayman Food Bank were chosen by our Charity Committee due to their relentless efforts in providing the community with the most basic of humanitarian needs. In addition, by supporting the Cayman Food Bank, we are also indirectly assisting the other charities in the Cayman Islands who rely on the Cayman Food Bank for providing food supplies and support to those most affected by COVID-19.

“Alongside providing food, we also wanted to support the amazing organizations that are providing security for residents, addressing the needs of those displaced due to the pandemic. Many families are facing homelessness due to loss of income. Many others cannot afford flights to get home. Both ARK and R3 address these urgent issues and we are pleased to be able to support them to continue this work. Finally, we knew that donating to R3 would have a double impact upon our community as DART has generously pledged to match all donations to R3 up to $4 million. We all have a role to play in re-building Cayman. Greenlight Re is proud to be a part of this effort.”

Bryan Hunter, R3 Cayman Foundation Chairman, commented, “The pandemic has left hundreds of foreign nationals stranded in Cayman without jobs and homes and relying on Government and local charities for food and other forms of support. Recognizing this growing humanitarian crisis and its effects on our community, we are very pleased to receive the donation from Greenlight Re in support of the Cayman Islands Government repatriation efforts and are happy to contribute double that amount to those efforts. We hope these funds will benefit both those needing to repatriate to their home countries, and Cayman residents seeking to return to our shores.”

Naomi Law, spokesperson for Cayman Food Bank, commented, “We would like to thank Greenlight Re for their wonderful donation and support of the Cayman Food Bank. These funds will allow the Cayman Food Bank to continue with the grocery packages program that we put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This donation will cover approximately three to four weeks of our grocery program purchases and will help us continue to provide food and supplies to those in need. As an non-profit organization we rely on donations to keep our program running and in this pandemic the need for donations is even greater now that we are unable to recover a lot of the food that we once did before COVID-19 and need to purchase the majority of what goes into the packages. We are grateful for Greenlight Re’s support and that of the local community.”

Tara Nielson, Director at Cayman’s Ark Foundation commented that “ARK is incredibly grateful for the generous donation from Greenlight Re. ARK continues to operate the Kindness Kitchen serving 2000+ people in need as a result of Covid-19 pandemic. The ARK Soup kitchens are only made possible by donations made by the private sector. We are delighted by the support for the community demonstrated by Greenlight Re. Thank you on behalf of ARK and those we serve.”

Founded in 2006 and run wholly by volunteers, ARK launched its ‘Feed Cayman’ initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic which has provided much needed food and vouchers to Cayman families who have suffered hardship. The Cayman Food Bank opened in 2017 with a vision of alleviating hunger and some of its root causes in our community. Greenlight Re’s donations to ARK and the Cayman Food Bank will support the provision of good, healthy food to those in need.

Established in 2004, Greenlight Re is a NASDAQ listed company with specialist property and casualty reinsurance companies based in the Cayman Islands and Ireland.