Cayman Loves Children ends ten-year campaign

(CNS): After raising more than $100,000 for UNICEF, Cayman Loves Children formally ended its decade-long campaign on behalf of the world’s poorest children this month. “I feel the organization has done well but it’s time to wrap it up,” said founder Guy P. Harrison. “I’m thankful to all the people in the Cayman Islands who donated money. $100,000 is a lot of money when you consider that just a couple of dollars can mean a life-saving vaccine or school supplies for a year. It’s nice that so many people in Cayman cared enough about children to give.”

Although he is pleased with the overall effort, Harrison admitted to feeling some disappointment.

“My original vision was that Cayman Loves Children would become a self-sustaining entity that was powered by Caymanian children,” he explained. “I wanted it to be about kids helping kids. But because of work and family demands I failed to invest the needed time and energy to make that happen. I feel bad about that. I was also continually frustrated by the common local attitude of ‘charity begins at home’. It was a struggle to convince many people that it’s not enough to only care about your immediate neighbor when 11 million children are dying around the world needlessly each year. But I’m glad I took a shot and I’m very happy that we were able to pass on a substantial amount of money to UNICEF.”

Harrison thanked his children Jared and Marissa for their support and hard work. He also cited the key contributions of five young Caymanians who were instrumental in launching the group ten years ago. They are: Marzeta Bodden, Adishree Mani, Andrew Mackay, Daniela Ryan, and Cristin Alexander.

“I hope that Caymanians will continue to give to UNICEF,” Harrison added. “UNICEF is the worlds best organization when it comes to helping children suffering in extreme poverty. They don’t spend half their money on salaries and marketing and they have a presence in all the necessary places.”

“It’s difficult to imagine nearly 30,000 children under the age of five dying every day due to malnutrition and diseases that could have been prevented or treated, but that is the reality of our world. Imagine if terrorists were killing 30,000 people every day or if that many people died in plane crashes every day. The world would act immediately. But 30,000 children dying in poverty goes mostly unnoticed. Their poverty makes them invisible. I think that is outrageous. I’ve seen things around the world—children living in total hell—that I just can’t forget. I will always care about this problem and I encourage every Caymanian to become informed and do something to help.”

Harrison said that UNICEF’s Web site (www.unicef.org) is full of information and has a convenient page for credit card donations.

“A gift of as little as $10 can literally save a child’s life,” he said. “You can’t get spend your money any better than that.”