Coronavirus Donation From Anderson Stewart Family Foundation Being Put to Good Use by V.I. Dept. of Health

  • Staff Consortium
  • May 18, 2020
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The Dept. of Health on Thursday presented preventative and safety supplies on behalf of the Anderson Stewart Family Foundation to the Women’s Coalition of St. Croix and Ten Thousand Helpers, Inc.

With the charitable contribution from the Anderson Foundation, D.O.H. Commissioner Justa Encarnacion said that her staff remains fully dedicated and willing to serve and provide aid to first responders and the most vulnerable community members.  Ms. Encarnacion credited Irving Julien, Territorial Suicide Prevention coordinator for D.O.H., with developing and implementing the initiative with the generosity of The Anderson Stewart Foundation.

The initiative began on April 30th with the gifting of supplies to the Herbert Grigg Home for the Aged followed by Queen Louise Home, and HomeMakers Care in St. Thomas and St. John. Those efforts were spearheaded by D.O.H. Outreach Specialist Kwane Bartlett, Chief of Staff Shanna O’Reilly, Deputy Commissioner Hadeya Charles and D.O.H. Assistant Commissioner Nicole Craigwell-Syms.   

West Care/The Village and Virgin Islands Partners in Recovery were also gifted supplies, according to the release. The nonprofit's VP of Operations Larry McArthur expressed appreciation.

“On behalf of The Village I want to thank both Irving and the Department of Health as well as make sure that the Anderson Stewart Family Foundation received our deepest thanks," Mr. McArthur said. "We received a very generous donation, significantly more than what we asked for, which included masks, soap, hand sanitizers, and gloves."

A brief presentation was conducted with minimal  D.O.H. staff  in the Commissioner’s Conference Room. There, Clema Lewis, executive director of Women’s Coalition of St. Croix and Malik Stradiron, director of Ten Thousand Helpers, Inc, received items including 1,000 face masks each, hand sanitizers, a variety of hand-wash soaps, gloves, and disinfecting cleaning supplies.

Additionally, certificates of appreciation were presented to Ms. Lewis and Mr. Stradiron for their dedication and commitment to the Virgin Islands.

“Yesterday, I stopped at the store to purchase  some masks with my own money to give out, and right in front of the store,  there was a guy who said, 'Ms. you could give me a mask'?  Thank God I had one extra in my bag and I gave it to him. We do this every day," Ms. Lewis said.

Mr. Stridiron echoed the sentiments as Ten Thousand Helpers, Inc. has been working daily with the territory’s homeless population for years. “I do this from inside my heart.  We are rarely recognized and most of the time we do not get funding to help our homeless population, so thank you. I will make sure that I distribute all the masks and continue to serve our forgotten population.  Thank you, Anderson Stewart Foundation.  This means a lot."

The Government of the Virgin Islands on April 13 announced that it received a $1 million grant from the  Anderson Stewart Family Foundation, which the Bryan administration said will go toward the V.I. Department of Health for equipment and to provide services to residents in the department’s fight against COVID-19.

 

Government House said the grant will be used to purchase items on the governor’s list of needed supplies, including rapid testing kits, N95 masks, personal protective equipment, respirators and laser infrared thermometers. Funds also will go towards providing stress counseling and mental health services to residents dealing with the impact of the coronavirus on the territory.

Mr. Julien decided to partner with local vendors for PPE supplies to include Jamal Drummond of Amadz Fashion providing re-usable facial masks, Ramone Reid-Ventura of Cultured Natural Body Care for hand sanitizers, Crucian Creations and Business World who will be donating 500 reusable bags to assist with the distribution of items to the community.   

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