Caribbean Travel Companies Focus on Community Support

PHOTO: Sandals’ reading road program allowed me to spend a rewarding afternoon jamaican schoolchildren. (Photo by Brian Major)

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In a travel industry routinely focused on arrivals, occupancy, ADR and profit, it’s admirable to find travel organizations that are contributing much-needed — and appreciated — aid to Caribbean communities in need.

Two such organizations recently announced extensions of two very different programs with one thing in common – the companies are giving back to the community with programs that seek to sustain and support Caribbean youth.

This year The Sandals Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Sandals Resorts International (SRI), is celebrating its third year of the Sandals Foundation Reading Road Trip initiative, operated in conjunction with SRI’s Islands Routes excursion company.

Reading Road allows guests at SRI’s Sandals and Beaches resorts to purchase excursions to local communities where they can read books, practice reading comprehension and interact with local children at their schools and communities. Sandals CEO Adam Stewart, who was instrumental in creating the program as a means to aid his countrymen in Jamaica and the Caribbean, has pointed out that 100 percent of the proceeds of the program go to fund the Foundation’s programs.

Travelers can also provide books and school supplies for the program when they visit SRI resorts. In its three years, the program has become extremely popular. After beginning in 2011 with 200 trips, Reading Road has now completed 5,000 guest trips, and the Foundation has expanded its collection of new books for the program and has hired a new teacher at a Jamaican primary school.

I participated in a Reading Rainbow excursion two years ago while visiting the Sandals Grande Riviera in the Jamaican resort town of Ocho Rios. We visited a primary school in a hillside community only 10 minutes from the resort. Although it was only a short distance away, the community was a world apart from the atmosphere at the resort. The community of older, pastel-colored hillside homes was not so much poor – I’ve seen more challenged communities in the Caribbean – as it was lacking an abundance of resources.

Yet the children I met that day did not seem to be lacking in any particular way. On the contrary, they were uniformly full of smiles and the precocious, naive and charming nature that makes spending time with children so enjoyable and rewarding.

Reading has always been my hobby and comfort, and as the son and husband of teachers, teaching and learning have always been important aspects of my life. After reading to and just having fun with the kids I spoke with the school’s principal, who spoke of the challenges she faced and the families she served face. Still I sensed her determination and optimistic spirit and her appreciation for the Sandals program. I couldn’t have enjoyed myself more.

“We are so grateful to all those who go on the Reading Road Trip as they continue to help us make huge inroads to improving literacy across the Caribbean,” said Heidi Clarke, the Sandals Foundation director. “Through the funds from this past year’s program, we have been able to employ a full-time teacher at King’s Primary whose focus will be primarily on assisting children who are below their age appropriate reading levels.”

The Reading Road Trip is available in Jamaica, the Bahamas, Antigua, Saint Lucia, Turks and Caicos and Grenada and takes place every Thursday.

CHTAEF Links St. Croix Students to Facebook Jobs

Recently two St. Croix culinary students, Denika Boyd and Aaron Tutein, have landed jobs at Facebook’s corporate campus following interships at the social networking company.

The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association Education Foundation (CHTAEF), in partnership with the St. Croix Foundation, a non-profit community organization, provided the students with $1,000 grants to assist with expenses related to their participation in the program.

Boyd and Tutein first earned their Facebook internship opportunities by volunteering to work alongside (and learn from) guest celebrity chefs during the St. Croix Food Wine Experience, an annual series that raises funds for the St. Croix Foundation.

CHTAEF was established in 1987 as a non-profit organization through which scholarships and special assistance would be provided for the education of Caribbean hotel industry personnel and students pursuing careers in tourism. CHTAEF has awarded $2 million in scholarships and grants to “applicants who demonstrate a strong commitment to the hotel and tourism industry,” according to organization officials.

“CHTAEF’s mission is to enhance educational opportunities for Caribbean students by offering financial assistance to qualified individuals,” said Richard Kahn, CHTAEF’s chairman. “We are pleased to have partnered with the St. Croix Foundation to further the careers of Ms. Boyd and Mr. Tutein.”   

“What excites us the most is that we have helped develop career paths for our youth,” said Roger Dewey, the St. Croix Foundation’s director.  “All of our visiting chefs help develop the skills of our St. Croix Career Technical Center culinary students, which in the instance of Ms. Boyd and Mr. Tutein helped them earn an internship and ultimately a job at Facebook.”