Port-of-Spain, Trinidad – April 20, 2020
bmobile has partnered with the United Way Trinidad and Tobago (UWTT) to assist the local NGO in its national COVID-19 relief effort.
A COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund was formed by UWTT to provide support to persons and local communities most affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. bmobile has sponsored the free use of its text-to-donate service to facilitate the UWTT’s fund-raising efforts. The Company was also the first corporate citizen to contribute to the fund with a donation of $20,000 to kick start the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund. Members of the public can contribute to the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund by texting the word GIVE to HELP (4357) from their bmobile phones. Each text will donate $5.00.
Dr. Ronald Walcott, TSTT’s Chief Executive Officer shared that bmobile has partnered with UWTT over eight years as part of its National Day of Caring, as well as with other regional and national relief initiatives for disasters such as the catastrophic Hurricane Irma in 2017 which impacted our Caribbean neighbours and the devastating floods in 2018. “bmobile supports the UWTT’s national relief efforts every year because we believe that it is our duty as the national provider, to give back to Trinidad and Tobago. We are pleased to be a partner once again in this very important national relief effort and to help mitigate the financial and other difficulties that persons are experiencing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to support Trinidad and Tobago in whatever way we can to ensure that the vulnerable and underserved in our country is not forgotten during this time.”
Linda Ramsumir, UWTT’s NGO Relations Manager explained that due to the social distancing and stay-at-home measures in place, their annual National Day of Caring has been replaced with the UWTT National Time of Caring 2020 and the UWTT COVID 19 Recovery and Response Fund is part of the 2020 initiative. “United Way TT is a national NGO working to transform lives by mobilizing finances, people and physical resources. We partner with other nonprofit organizations to reach communities throughout Trinidad and Tobago who are most in need.”
Dr. Jennifer Sancho, UWTT’s Chief Executive Officer stated “This crisis will have its toll. More than ever, we need to work together as a country to beat the COVID- 19 outbreak and to recover as equitably as possible. The UWTT COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund will enable us to respond to the gaps in the national response as the situation develops and support the important recovery work that comes after. Every contribution counts and while this crisis is affecting us all, we are seeing throughout the world how this is disproportionately affecting the more vulnerable. The time for action is now and UWTT offers a cost effective means to pool in one fund to help take action to scale.”
Ramsumir added “A lot of people want to help in the national COVID-19 effort but may not know how. This is a way that people can help by staying at home and still providing assistance to those who desperately need it. As small as $5.00 may seem, it can make a huge impact if everyone donates $5.00.” The vulnerable groups to be assisted by the UWTT National Time of Caring and the UWTT COVID 19 Recovery and Response Fund include the elderly, the recently unemployed; persons living with disabilities; frontline workers; NGOs; and school communities.
Dr. Sancho noted that this COVID-19 text to donate campaign is the third campaign on which bmobile and UWTT have worked together. “We thank bmobile for their sponsorship and for the trust and understanding in what UWTT is aiming to do. People can stay safe, stay at home, save lives and text the word GIVE to HELP (4357) from their bmobile phones to make a difference and help those most in need. UWTT is aligned to bmobile in our beliefs that “Together we are stronger and together we can.” Dr. Sancho also thanked the public in advance for their support and said “Trinidadians and Tobagonians are generous people who will understand the need is now to rally around each other.”