The Tribune

TWO dozen employee volunteers of the British Colonial Hilton weathered rainy conditions yesterday as they hit the road for an extensive food and clothing distribution exercise.

Local volunteers joined thousands of team members across 93 countries and territories in the third annual Hilton Worldwide Global Week of Service.

Fifty families who have been displaced by economic hardship benefited from the generous corporate initiative.

“The distribution exercise began at Great Commission Ministries where we donated eight 60 gallon bags of clothing. The clothing items were collected over the past two weeks by Hilton staff members in preparation for today. We also donated toys, linens, tools to assist with proper hygienic practices and non-perishable food items,” said Theodore Sealy, the Hilton’s marketing and leisure sales manager.

“We did the same for 12 families seeking similar assistance from the Fort Charlotte Urban Renewal Centre, 20 families seeking assistance from the Bain Town Urban Renewal Centre and two disabled individuals in the Bain & Grants Town constituency.”

A resident of Bain Town who benefited from the donation said she was grateful for the help.

“I’ve been a resident of the Bain Town community for over 50 years and now that I am unable to leave my house to get groceries and buy other supplies, community efforts like these are really appreciated. Not everyone can just leave their house and go to get the things they need to survive because of physical problems; sometimes the money just isn’t there either. So I’m just grateful to the Hilton for meeting me at my point of need,” said the resident, who identified herself as Ms Rosie.

“We are happy to wrap-up our Global Week of Service with a community outreach that provided our staff with a more hands on approach to helping others. Poverty is a real issue here in the Bahamas, and we are committed to doing our part to not only open the eyes of our staff to the plight of many underprivileged Bahamians, but to also remain sensitive as a corporate entity to the importance of the role we should play in re-building communities that our property calls home,” said Rui Domingues, General Manager at British Colonial Hilton Nassau.