Makes Official Launch on the Island and Hosts Gala Fundraiser For The Children's Literacy Action Program

Following its launch in Jamaica a year ago, the Sandals Foundation has now been expanded to the neighboring

Caribbean island of St. Lucia with Adam Stewart, President of the Board of Directors, vowing more aggressively to tackle the many social problems affecting the region.

During the St. Lucia official launch, which took the form of a black-tie gala dinner, Stewart said that social issues such as poverty and crime are everywhere in the region. He called on people with influence, power and wealth to use their position to help alleviate some of the region’s troubles.

“Governments alone cannot do everything in a region with very limited resources. We as business people need to play our part and give back to this wonderful region that has been good to all of us. It requires a collective effort and the role of every single Caribbean man is important,” explains the Board President of the Sandals Foundation and the CEO of Sandals Resorts International.

Stewart added that in addition to launching the non-profit organization in St. Lucia, the gala evening represented a

fundraising effort for the Children’s Literacy Action Project (C.L.A.P.) a foundation that targets children in poverty stricken, crime riddled, and inner-city areas in St. Lucia. C.L.A.P.’s President, Ms. Virgil Leonty, a former newspaper and radio journalist, was in attendance at the fundraising event that raised $26,000. These funds will go directly to the Foundation’s purchase of a Community Center in Marchand Boulevard where the C.L.A.P. program will reside.

“A lot of these children are without a parent because their father is either in jail or shot as a result of gang war or the trafficking of narcotics. It is not acceptable that children are not going to school because they cannot afford it. It is not their fault and we need to give them a chance,” lamented Leonty.

Leonty told a gathering of St. Lucia’s leading businessmen and politicians, including the

island’s Prime Minister, that she is very grateful for the contributions of the Sandals Foundation. “Our relationship with Sandals Resorts International started some five years ago when the Children”s Literacy Action Program commenced by reading to children on the streets of Marchand Boulevard. It started very humbly but because of the obvious need of the community, we expanded now to approximately sixty children,” said Leonty.

During his turn at the podium, The Honorable Stephenson King, echoed the sentiments of Foundation Board President, Adam Stewart, by sounding a call for more compassion and love from the Caribbean’s most influential. The St. Lucian Prime Minister said that the wealthy and powerful in the region couldn’t continue to ignore the poor and distressed.

In pledging the Government of St. Lucia’s support to the efforts of the Sandals Foundation on the island, the St. Lucian leader said, “it is only by showing compassion and love that we will be able to solve some of the social challenges of the island. Sometimes, the wider community is better placed than politicians to solve problems like crime and poverty. Children are at risk in impoverished communities all around us and we must come together to give them a helping hand.”

The Sandals Foundation has undertaken several projects in St. Lucia as part of the parent company”s 17-year history on that island including: the Sandals Cricket Academy, working with over 300 boys for the last 10 years; the addition of a computer lab and library at The Balata School; and, several other projects including working with hospitals, schools, farmers and other local community groups on the island.