Mayor helps AIDS project
The Belize City Council today added its support for a fund raising radiothon and televised concert to help people affected by HIV/AIDS. During brief ceremonies at City Hall, Mayor David Fonseca handed over a cheque for five hundred dollars to the coordinator of the Living With Hope project, Dolores Balderamos Garcia. Fonseca says that as an employer of a significant number of City residents, the Council felt obligated to contribute to a programme that will impact the lives of many.
David Fonseca, Belize City Mayor
“That disease is affecting everyone. It doesn’t pick on certain people it affects everyone in the communities. So we believe as a Council, we should contribute towards this cause. But more importantly, the Belize City Council employs, as far as we know, the largest number of people in the City. And we also know that a high number of those employees are affected by HIV/AIDS. So we believe that by contributing, the employees can benefit form the programme that Living With Hope is producing.”
Patrick Jones
“Now I understand that you are also in touch with counterparts abroad, your sister city relationships are being brought into this whole effort.?”
David Fonseca, Belize City Mayor
“Yes, as you know we have sister city relationships in various cities outside, such as New Orleans and Evanston and our new one in Maryland, Annapolis. We have reached out to them already given them the situation and gave them the background on the Living With Hope programme to get them to see what resources and what funds that they are able to raise to contribute towards the cause. The response, the feedback is a good one so far.”
Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Coordinator, Living With Hope
“So in terms of the money, I think we’re still going a little bit slowly there because we are trying to build up to Saturday, the twenty eighth, but in terms of the public response to the willingness to contribute, I think that has been just absolutely fantastic. I think the first one that I must mention arte the Belizean musicians. I mean they were practically lining up.”
Patrick Jones
“What does it mean to the commission or to the project to get this donation today from the City of Belize?”
“It’s very, very significant. And I think the mayor is being too modest when he says it’s a small amount. Five hundred dollars is a large amount, it’s significant and especially coming from an entity that has so many employees and so much work to do that they can’t just fling their money all over. Coming from the City Council and councilor Yasmin Shoman, Mayor Fonseca and the councilors, it’s a very, very significant contribution, and I think it goes a long way to show that HIV/AIDS is our problem in Belize City and we have to take ownership of it.”
The Living With Hope concert and telethon takes place on Saturday, August twenty-eighth at the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts. Musicians from all over the country have agreed to pool their talents to raise at least a hundred thousand dollars for the project. Persons who want to contribute can do so at Belize Bank, account number 680-500-3042 or in person at the National AIDS Commission Office in Belize City.
