International Business Week Charity Outreach
Friday November 19 2010 | 04:27 PM

Members of the international business sector downed pens and picked up tools when they made the Sterling Children’s Home in St Phillip the focus of their second annual community clean-up.

Initially the closing activity of International Business Week 2010, the clean-up was postponed from October 30 as tropical storm Tomas affected Barbados. However, the postponement did not dampen the enthusiasm among the more than a dozen volunteers drawn from the members and staff of the Barbados International Business Association (BIBA) and the Ministry of International Business who gathered at the residential home last Saturday.

The BIBA team cut back overgrown verges, trimmed hedges, mowed lawns and cleared away litter around the roadside entrance to the compound. Following the clean-up effort, the volunteers treated the children of Sterling and those visiting from Farr’s Children’s Home in St. Peter to a catered lunch buffet, plus homemade brownies. The volunteers then joined the children in a lively game of cricket on the front lawn that was enjoyed by adults and children alike.

Before the volunteers left, BIBA President Mohammed Patel told all gathered that the day’s activity was part of the organisation’s on-going mandate to be more involved in the community where they live. He added that the clean-up would not be the end of their involvement with Sterling as BIBA was also committed to assisting them with rehabilitating their vegetable garden to aid the home in being more self-sufficient.

The day’s activity was coordinated by the BIBA Charity, which is committed to spearheading socially conscious projects on behalf of BIBA’s members. The Charity was established in March this year with the objective of pooling individual donations made by BIBA members and the wider public and channelling them towards deserving local social causes. The board of advisors consists of Mara Thompson, Henderson Holmes and Peter Boos.

Holmes, who is the executive director of BIBA, said that while economic development is the primary objective of international business, community involvement is an important aspect of BIBA’s development initiatives. “Among the international business firms there has always been tremendous interest in community involvement at many levels. International businesses have been confidentially giving to many causes over the years, and the BIBA Charity is just a way of systematically coordinating, facilitating, and intensifying that effort” he added.