Barbados Today

The 2013 CIBC FirstCaribbean Walk/Run for the Cure is definitely on!

Again this year, employees, their friends and families will take part in the event, in a bid to raise awareness of and support for the fight against all types of cancer.

CIBC FirstCaribbean’s 17 businesses across the Caribbean will either host their own event, or will join one of the national cancer organisations, many of whom are hosting events between the end of September and the first week in October.

CIBC FirstCaribbean first organised the event last year, as part of its 10th anniversary activities. Its parent company in Canada, CIBC, is in its 17th year as the title sponsor for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure, after which this series of events is fashioned. In 2012, 13,000 CIBC employees, their families and friends, took part in the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure as part of Team CIBC. Team CIBC contributed over $3 million through the collection of pledges, fundraising events and contributions from the CIBC Pink Collection‚ to the national total of over $30 million raised in 2012.

Nearly 3,000 CIBC FirstCaribbean employees and their families joined together for the walk events and in the end the company was able to donate just under $30,000 US to cancer organisations around the region, in support of the work they are doing with cancer patients in the Caribbean. This year, there is even more emphasis on fund-raising, as CIBC FirstCaribbean offices organize activities among their staff and in some cases their customers, to raise as much as they can towards the cause.

“In Barbados, the staff is excited about the activities that we are planning as we also see it as a way of bringing us together to give back to a good cause. We are planning to hold weekly raffles, some of the guys on staff are organising a table tennis tournament and then they wish to have a concession stand that will service both the staff and our customers,” stated Managing Director for Barbados Donna Wellington. “We have all been touched in some way or another; I personally know the grief caused by this disease, having lost my mother to cancer some 28 years ago; and so we all want to pitch in and assist in raising as much as possible” she added.

CEO, Rik Parkhill, noted: “We are extremely pleased to be involved in another worthy cause to build awareness of a disease that impacts all of us. We know from the stories you have shared that the spectre of cancer touches all of us in some form, whether it’s a family member, friend or colleague, or the reality that some of us are afflicted by and bravely battling this disease. CIBC FirstCaribbean supports all efforts to raise the public’s awareness of all types of cancer, including early detection, treatment and the urgent need for a permanent cure. All of our efforts as part of our walk activities will therefore promote wider efforts to raise awareness.”

The Bank has established a number of accounts at its branches across the Caribbean, into which the public may deposit their donations.

The account number for Barbados is 1001120446.