Courts present Red Cross with two cheques

In keeping its promise to raise funds for the Red Cross, today Courts Belize Limited delivered cheques totaling over thirty thousand dollars to assist in disaster preparation and hurricane relief efforts.

Anamarie Bennett, Advertising/Promotions, Courts

“We pledged to donate twenty-five thousand in cash and products to the Red Cross. We knew that to arrive at this total we needed to do some kind of fundraising and for the entire month of August we did a Red Cross sale, which raised almost five thousand dollars for this cause. We have to date donated over eight thousand dollars in furniture, electrical and household products to the San Ignacio Red Cross. Today we decided to come forward in the aftermath of Hurricane Keith to present some money to the Red Cross. The presentation today is for fifteen thousand dollars, which comes from the initial twenty five thousand dollars pledge. We did a surprise donation of ten thousand dollars which is totally different from the twenty-five thousand dollars pledge which brings the total to over thirty-three thousand.”

William Skeen, Director General, Belize Red Cross

“The fifteen thousand will be used for the development of our branches, our continued disaster preparedness training that we conduct countrywide and it will be used for the general dissemination and materials that we also do countrywide. And it will also be used for relief for disasters that might come after Hurricane Keith.”

“The second check for the hurricane relief. That is specifically for the relief of we’re undertaking. We pledged to feed eight thousand people for four months. We started out with the Cayes, San Pedro and Caye Caulker. We started to look toward the Belize Rural villages and the Orange Walk rural villages. So we have been taking seven day supplies of food to these areas and we are also looking at the water and sanitation problems that have arisen and we are looking at the general health issues such as dengue fever, cholera, dysentery and any thing else that would be the result of the hurricane. We are also looking at the possibility of rehabilitation for farmers. As you know they have lost their crops. They need seeds, they need some cattle. Some may have lost chickens or some other kind of farm products. That money will contribute towards the ongoing effort we have undertaken so far.”

Courts plans to continue their fundraising drive up to April 2001.