LIAT and Tropical Shipping support The UWI Open Campus storm relief drive in St. Kitts & Nevis
(UWI)—The Christmas season of 2013 was not such a joyous one for the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia and Dominica where storm conditions caused flooding and damaged land and buildings. Unfortunately lives were also lost and there were several persons whose homes and belongings were washed away by the heavy rain. In response to the tragedy, The University of the West Indies quickly initiated a Storm Relief Drive seeking donations in cash and in kind for the victims.
The UWI Open Campus St. Kitts & Nevis, for its part, sought and procured donations which included food, clothing and school supplies. Transport of the items to St. Lucia and St. Vincent was made possible through the kind assistance of LIAT and Tropical Shipping. The UWI Open would like to publicly acknowledge and applaud LIAT for its aid in transporting items from St. Kitts to St. Vincent. Tropical Shipping must also be thanked for it assistance in transporting items from Nevis to St. Lucia which meant that the vessel had to make a stop that was not on its normal route.
The partnership of UWI Open Campus with LIAT and Tropical Shipping on this occasion is an example of one of the ways in which The University of the West Indies seeks to develop and sustain communities and community relations throughout the region. On this occasion LIAT and Tropical Shipping willingly waived costs to ensure that those in need were assisted. The true value of such assistance is immeasurable.
The UWI Open Campus would also like to give recognition to the staff of the Marriott Golf Club and the Nevis Public Works Department who transported the goods to the shipment locations. Recognition must also be given to the Education Officers in Nevis for their role in assisting and sorting donations received from private individuals as well as from the Charlestown Primary School and the St. Thomas’ Primary School. The effort was supported by private individuals in St. Kitts who brought their donations to the UWI Open Campus Site, the Gardens Basseterre to be sorted and packaged by site staff. The entire process of collection, sorting and transportation was done with relative ease as a result of the fact that the persons and entities involved were committed to the task of helping those affected as quickly as possible.