May 23, 2009 – The Board of Directors of the Caribbean Cable and Telecommunications Association (CCTA) has unanimously agreed to award a total of $19,000 to 19 charitable organizations located in the Caribbean. Each individual charity was nominated by a cable-system operator that is an active member of the association. Each nominee will receive $1,000. The board took this action at their meeting on May 12.
Terry Roberson, chair of the CCTA and general manager of Bermuda Cablevision, said, "The missions of these 19 outstanding nominees made it difficult to decide between them. The CCTA originally established the program to give just ten grants per year, but the program has generated so much interest among our members that the number of applicants continues to grow annually. This year's 19 nominees are very worthy organizations, and we are delighted to be able to award grants to all of them."
The grant recipients and their sponsoring companies are: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bermuda nominated by Bermuda Cablevision Ltd.; Virgin Islands Cadets Corps nominated by BVI Cable TV; Youth Against Violence nominated by Cable Bahamas; Harrison College PTA nominated by Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation of Barbados; Centro Sor Isolina Ferre nominated by Choice Cable TV of Puerto Rico; Missionaries of the Poor nominated by Columbus Communications Inc. of Bahamas and Jamaica; Grenada National Coalition on the Right of the Child nominated by Columbus Communications Grenada; The Just Because Foundation nominated by Columbus Communications Trinidad; Queen Louise Home nominated by Innovative Cable TV St. Croix; Humane Society of St. Thomas nominated by Innovative Cable TV St. Thomas-St. John; Colegio de Educacion Especial y Rehabilitacion Integral nominated by Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico; International Institute for People with Disabilities of Puerto Rico nominated by OneLink Communications; Corno Abe's Foundation nominated by SAT Telecommunications Ltd. of Dominica; Fundacion Telfon Pa Hubenfud Aruba nominated by SETAR; Holy Family Children's Home nominated by St. Lucia Cablevision; The Police Boys Club nominated by The Cable of St. Kitts; Stichting Hamied nominated by T.V. Distribution Systems of Curacao; Special Olympics Cayman Islands nominated by WestStar TV Limited; and St. Maarten Soccer Educational Foundation nominated by Wireless Telecommunication Network.
Formed in 1983, CCTA represents cable and telecommunications providers throughout the Caribbean and the programmers, software and hardware suppliers that support their activities. The Community Charities Program, which was established in 1993, has awarded $208,250 during its existence.
