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Caribbean L 8 ife, April 9-15, 2021
From left: Vice President Ivor De’Shong, PRO Lydia Daniel, President Mark
Lindsay, Member Raquel Da Silva, and Member Honestine Williams. Angela
Bacchus
SVG Relief ‘very proud’
of relief shipment
By Nelson A. King
Verna Arthur, chairperson of the Brooklyn
based SVG Relief, Inc., says her organization
was “very proud” of efforts made for
the first shipment of relief supplies to St.
Vincent and the Grenadines in the wake
of the effusive volcanic eruption, dengue
fever and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“SVG Relief, Inc. was very proud of the
work that we have done for the first shipment,
and we want to thank everybody
who contributed to this effort,” Arthur, a
prominent Vincentian community activist
and cultural figure, told Caribbean Life on
Wednesday.
“We want to give special thanks to all
those who made this come to fruition,”
she added. “We’re getting ready to make
another shipment soon.”
Arthur disclosed that members of her
group spent the Easter weekend packing
at least five commercial bins of relief supplies,
which will soon be shipped to St.
Vincent and the Grenadines.
On March 22, she said emergency supplies,
including facial masks and other
personal protection equipment (PPEs),
were handed over to the St. Vincent and
the Grenadines’ Ministry of Health, Wellness
and the Environment at a ceremony
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Foreign Trade Conference Room in Kingstown,
the Vincentian capital, according to
SVG Relief, Inc.’s liaison Fern Dopwell.
Arthur said the donation was made by
Vincentians living in the United States,
through two Brooklyn-based organizations
— SVG Relief, Inc. and the St. Vincent
and the Grenadines Disaster Relief
Platform (SVG-DRIP).
Sen. Keisal Peters, minister of state in
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign
Trade, handed over the items to Jimmy
Prince, minister of Health, Wellness and
the Environment, Arthur said.
She said Dopwell — a Brooklyn resident,
who is vacationing at home — was
present at the handing-over ceremony
and gave “brief remarks on behalf of SVG
Relief, Inc.”
Dopwell assured that “the organization
will continue its efforts to seek opportunities
to assist their fellowmen in SVG,”
Arthur said.
Prince thanked Dopwell, SVG Relief,
Inc. and SVG DRIP for their “generous
donation,” Arthur said.
In his remarks, Prince also underscored
that “other organizations have assisted
during the fight against the COVID-19
pandemic by providing emergency supplies,
and reassured the public that the
health centers are properly equipped with
facial masks and PPEs needed for the
safety of our health workers,” according
to Dopwell.
She said Peters also thanked Vincentian
embassies and consulates, Vincentian
Diaspora groups (SVG Relief, Inc. and
SVG-DRIP), and Keith Boyea of Amerijet,
among others, “for providing the financial
support needed to ensure that the emergency
supplies arrived here in SVG.”
In addition, Dopwell said Peters thanked
Gideon “Fessy” Yorke, owner of the Brooklyn
based Standard Shippers for storage
and shipping of the items, and other partnering
organizations on the SVG joint
relief effort, such as CARICON-SVG in
Canada; National Council of SVG Associations
in the United Kingdom; and SVG
Central Florida Organization, Inc. “for
making this initiative a success.”
Dopwell said the donation included
39,200 surgical (3 ply) face masks, 2,450
KN95 masks, 10,420 kids masks, 300 N95
face masks, 5,500 gloves, 792 face shields,
400 shoe covers and 100 caps.
Donations can be shipped to SVG Relief,
Inc., c/o Standard Shippers, 9502 Ditmas
Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11236; “or you may
contact O’Brien Simmons, at 347-446-
1827, if you need someone to pick up your
donation.”
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