Acting Deputy Director of the Child Care Board, Colin St. Hill (third from left), receives the masks from Megan Mayers. Looking on (from left to right) are: Personal Assistant to Minister Cynthia Forde, Kevyn Henry; Senior Child Care Officer, Esther Bayley-Smith, Barry Mayers of Ripples and Personal Aide to the Prime Minister, Jessica Odle-Baril. (C.Pitt/BGIS)
The Child Care Board last Friday became the first recipients of a donation of masks made to Barbados by the Canada-based Leslois Shaw Foundation, whose directors Virginia and Les Hutchinson are resident here.
The Foundation teamed up with Tanya Taylor Designs of New York and local company Ripples Limited to produce 105 000 masks in various sizes. Of these, 3,600 were presented to the Child Care Board, 3,000 for children and 600 for adults.
Personal Aide to Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, Jessica Odle-Baril, said the donation to the people of Barbados was made through the Prime Minister, to be distributed to those most in need.
She said children under the care of the State had been selected as the first recipients, and added that other deserving groups and individuals will benefit from the donation, since there were many who will not be able to afford the face coverings which were now a necessary part of daily attire.
Acting Deputy Director of the Child Care Board, Colin St. Hill, thanked the donors, and shared that the masks will be distributed to the 80 children in residential care as well as to the staff working in these institutions and other clients of the Board.
He stressed the important role children could play in reinforcing the messaging about mask wearing as Barbados continued its efforts to suppress the transmission of COVID-19 on the island.
The masks were handed over to the Board at its Cheapside, St. Michael headquarters by Personal Assistant to the Hutchinsons, Megan Mayers, and Barry Mayers of Ripples.
BY BGIS | JUL 21, 2020 | CORONA VIRUS, TOP STORIES
