Caribbean music standard bearers the University Singers will on Saturday, October 28, 2017 showcase their exceptional talents on behalf of the beneficiaries of the Marie Atkins Night Shelter with the support of the Urban Development Corporation and the Desnoes and Geddes Foundation.
The benefit performance which will be held at the Phillip Sherlock Centre for the Arts at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus will begin at 8pm with a cocktail hour at 7pm. All proceeds from the event which has an admission fee of $1800 will go towards the Marie Atkins Night Shelter Development Programme spearheaded by the UDC under its Corporate Social Responsibility Programme.
The Corporation’s relationship with the shelter was forged following its selection as the UDC’s 2017 Labour Day project in May of this year. According to Dr Damian Graham, General Manager of the Corporation, ‘the UDC is vested in the economic, social, cultural and ecological fabric of downtown Kingston where its headquarters is based and sees this charity outreach as a pivotal part of its work in improving the lives of people’. It was while carrying out the scope of works on the project that the UDC realised that much more was required, hence the commitment by Chairman Senator Ransford Braham and General Manager Dr Damian Graham to provide the additional support and to appeal to likeminded persons to come support.
Enter the Desnoes and Geddes Foundation –charitable arm of Red Stripe- which expressed a desire to collaborate with the UDC to improve the shelter and further organised the event to raise funds towards that end.
Garth Williams, Sustainability Manager at Red Stripe said the company’s involvement was spurred by statements made by government Minister Desmond McKenzie urging corporate entities to become more involved in their communities while delivering a keynote address at the launch of their foundation in May this year.
“He singled out the Marie Atkins centre as one such and encouraged corporate entities to look around the communities where they operate to see where support was needed. We followed on his lead when he mentioned the Marie Atkins Centre and we noticed that in May for Labour Day the UDC had done some work there and essentially adopted the shelter as part of their CSR programme so we said since we already had an interest why not partner with the UDC and support and make things better for the Shelter overall,” Mr Williams said.
“The Minister’s prompting and UDC’s involvement drove (our involvement). The Foundation is a big part of what we call our “Growing a Better Jamaica Agenda”. Our slogan for the Foundation is “Impacting lives… Enriching communities” so we know what the Shelter does and who it caters to, so by impacting their lives we hope that we enrich their lives. It falls right in the core of what we do as a Foundation” he added. He further encouraged “entities and their employees to be responsible corporate citizens by reaching out to those in need”.
“It does not need to be big bucks, it can come in various forms,” Williams noted.
Tickets to the benefit performance are available for purchase at Red Stripe’s 214 Spanish Town Road (telephone 923-9291) and the UDC’s 12 Ocean Boulevard addresses.
The shelter, named after the late Marie Atkins, former Mayor of Kingston and St Andrew, has been providing shelter for displaced and dispossessed individuals for the past 23 years and is operated by the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Council (KSMAC). Currently, there are 97 registered individuals attached to the shelter located at 65 Hanover Street, downtown Kingston, of which 20 are females.
The UDC will celebrate its 50th year in making development happen across the various sectors and designated areas in Jamaica in 2018.
For further information, please contact:
The Corporate Relations and Marketing DepartmentUrban Development Corporation
12 Ocean Boulevard
Kingston, Jamaica
Tel 🙁 876) 656-8031
Email cr@udcja.com
Website: www.udcja.com
www.facebook.com/urbandevelopmentcorporation
October 25, 2017