News

The Cayman Islands Red Cross (CIRC) recently hosted its Annual Volunteer Appreciation event, in the aims to recognize and highlight the achievements of the CIRC volunteers in 2021. The previous year has been very busy for the CIRC. The organization marked its 60^th anniversary in 2021, and over 250 CIRC volunteers were deployed to assist the community during the Covid 19 pandemic. CIRC volunteers delivered groceries and provided isolation support to over 400 families placed in quarantine, assisted Covid 19 testing and manned all government shelters during tropical storms “Grace” and “Ida”.

“The Red Cross is an organization built on volunteer work and community engagement” Says Director, Jondo Obi”. “This event first started as a way to recognize the tremendous work done by volunteers during Hurricane Ivan and since then has become an annual event which celebrates our volunteers and the work they’ve put in in the passing year”.

The Deputy Governor, Franz Manderson, presented the CIRC’s volunteers with their awards and thanked them for their hard work and their contribution to the Cayman Islands Community.

Michael Rhoden, a long serving volunteer was given the “Volunteer of the Year” award for his dedicated work over the course of 2021, Michael simply did not stop: he provided first aid coverage at eight (8) events, he regularly volunteered his time assisting the Thrift Shop with picking up donations, he was actively involved in the Support Our Seniors project, regularly assisted with the Container Project, the organizations of disaster response supplies, and he even made the time to be deployed during Tropical Storms Grace and Ida.

Deputy Director and Child Protection & Sexuality Education Programme Manager, Carolina Ferreira, provided a summary of the work done in the area of child protection in 2021. The multi-agency group Protection Starts Here (PSH), which celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year, faced challenges during 2021 created by the pandemic and that greatly impacted the CIRC’s ability to deliver the Darkness to Light “Stewards of Children” training session to the community. Prior to the pandemic the uptake in this training session had grown exponentially, with the organization reaching just under 600 persons trained in each.

Considering that all emergencies, including pandemics, significantly enhance existing vulnerabilities, it was imperative for the CIRC to find a way to reintroduce D2L to the community. With support from Help For Children Cayman (formerly Hedge Funds Care), the CIRC was able to not only get local Authorized Facilitators trained to deliver the methodology virtually, but also to launch the virtual D2L platform access to the community free of cost. The same Stewards of Children training that was offered on a bi-monthly basis via the CIRC’s public training schedule is now available every day, year round to the community, who are able to access it in their own time and from the comfort of their own home or office. The platform was launched in July 2021, and by early November 2021 had already seen approximately 150 registrations for access.

Disaster Manager Eddie Sepp Tinling-Miller provided an overview of the work done in the field of disaster preparedness and response. In 2021, the CIRC established three (3) Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs), two which are general community responders and one located in North Side specifically. 125 persons undertook the 36 hour training session to become a part of the team, and are now ready to respond as part of the national emergency response plan. The CIRC shelter, the first shelter to open in localized and national emergencies, was activated a total of four (4) times in 2021. The shelter was activate in response to the fires in the Windsor Park community and the landfill, as well as Tropical Storms Grace and Ida. Over 20 persons sought refuge at the CIRC shelter, and CIRC volunteers were also deployed to assist in all of the government shelters.

First Aid Training Manager Peter Hughes thanked first aid volunteers for their hard work in covering 29 events over the course of 2021, with 180 CIRC volunteers deployed to ensure the health and safety of attendees. The first aid programme was also responsible for training over 900 individuals in life saving skills. The programme has also launched the First Aid for Teacher’s initiative, sponsored by Walkers. This project aims to build capacity within the schools by ensuring first aid training is offered free of cost to teachers and education staff. 63 teachers from six schools utilized the service, and more are scheduled for 2022.

Volunteer and Resource Manager Samantha White-Smith thanked the CIRC volunteers who took part in the organizations “Support our seniors” project. The CIRC worked with the Department of Children and Family Services, the government body in charge of elderly welfare, to identify solutions and initiatives which both serve the vulnerable elderly population and support the works of the Department in a holistic manner. The CIRC’s “Support Our Seniors” project focused on identifying, vetting, training, and deploying volunteers to assist Cayman’s vulnerable elderly population with collection and delivery of prescription medication, grocery shopping and arriving to medical appointments by collecting and returning them to their homes. The CIRC supported a total of 30 vulnerable elderly residents in all districts of Grand Cayman for the duration of the initiative.

Thrift Shop Manager Remy Imperial outlined the Thrift Shop referral programme, which provided assistance to 84 vulnerable clients, by providing them with goods completely free of cost. Most notably, this past year saw the Thrift Shop much anticipated renovation, which started with the broader building renovation in 2019 and was stalled due to the pandemic. The newly renovated shop is more accessible, better laid out, and enhances the shopping experience for new and existing customers.

Award Winners for programmes were as follows:

First Aid

1. First Aid Volunteer of the Year – Carlene Bradshaw Miller

2. Outstanding Support – First Aid Coverage – Sonia Morrits
3. Outstanding Support – First Aid Coverage – Tanya Walters Webb
4. Outstanding Support – First Aid Coverage – Julia King

Thrift Shop

1. Thrift Shop Volunteer of the Year – Gwenever Hamil
2. All Around Thrift Shop Support Award – Joy Walker
3. Thrift Shop Administration Support  Award –  Sean Tatham
4. Community Outreach Award – Michael Thrope

Disaster Management

1. DM Volunteer of the Year – Joseph Kibue
2. Exceptional Leadership Award – Bernard Turner
3. Exceptional Leadership Award – Hortense Wright

Administration Support

1. Newcomer of the Year – Meera Mohiddin Mohammed
2. Overall Organizational Support Award – Pamella Martin
3. Behind the Scenes Support Award –  Anna Beesoon and Michael Wild
4. Administration support - Daniel Carabulea

For more information on how to volunteer at the Cayman Islands Red Cross please contact vrm@redcross.org.ky , or 925-2251. See www.redcross.org.ky for more information.