Belizean Americans provide toys and other goodies to needy children

There were happy faces today on children from three institutions who were gifted with an assortment of wares just in time for the Christmas. The goods were collected in the US and delivered today in Belize City. News Five’s Delahnie Bain was on hand.

Delahnie Bain, Reporting

Barrels of goodies were delivered to the Dorothy Menzies Child Care Center today where United Belizeans Incorporated, a Los Angeles Based organization, handed over a generous donation. The Liberty Children’s Home as well as Hand in hand Ministries also benefited from the drive held under the theme: Making a Child Smile for Christmas.

Luis Cowo

Luis Cowo, Vice President, United Belizeans Incorporated

“We have shoes, clothes, kids clothes, toys canned goods. Everything that you see; umbrellas. It just for the kids, it’s all about the children.”

Delahnie Bain

“So how did this initiative come about?”

Luis Cowo

“Well, I used to do it on my own you know. I’d take one barrel to the Cayo District and I brought the idea up to UBI and they said we can do it as a whole. From then on it took this formation.”

UBI Vice President, Luis Cowo, says that while their main focus was on children, they hope to extend their assistance to elderly persons in nursing homes.

Luis Cowo

“We are a non-profit organization. No money goes to our pocket, we do this by fundraisers and we have people who contribute to us also. The whole point, like I said in the beginning is for the children and also we’re going to start focusing on the elderly; elderly homes also. We have a lot of elderly clothes that we brought for adults and we hope to distribute to them also.”

Delahnie Bain

“So what was it like collecting these items, did you see that willingness to contribute?”

Luis Cowo

“Yes, definitely. A lot of people were willing to contribute. Once they heard that it was for the kids of Belize, they were willing to come out and support us and that’s wonderful. We made bus trips to the casinos; they were filled up. We had dominoes tournaments; we got a hundred percent cooperation from our Belizean supporters in the Los Angeles area so thanks to them also.”

And while the initiative received overwhelming support in Los Angeles, Cowo encourages all Belizeans to do their part in assisting the less fortunate.

Luis Cowo

“UBI is formed by nine members and what UBI’s goal is to help Belizean at home and abroad. We also have Belizeans abroad that also need help and we’re focusing on that mainly. Any kids that we see need help adults that need help; that’s our goal. Even people here in Belize, you need to remember that you have shelters like these and if you have that extra, dime to spare remember that these kids need attention. They need to know that people care. It’s sad that these kids have to be in a shelter but that’s life and unfortunately, we people out there and everybody can make a difference. Just donate to these shelters because they need help, not only financially but in other aspects too.”

Delahnie Bain for News Five.