Rock for Haiti this weekend

(CNS): A free concert is planned for tomorrow night, Saturday 23 October, from 1pm to midnight on the Brick House patio by the Oar House at Grand Harbour, with the proceeds going towards helping a group of volunteers travel to Haiti to participate in a home building operation with Irish charity, Haven. Rocktoberfest will be the biggest event organized by Team Cayman for Haiti, which has hosted a series of fundraisers for the trip to our troubled Caribbean neighbour. Team member Taura Ebanks says they are getting ready for a fun day and night of musical talent, tasty jerk chicken and some cold local Caybrew.

$5.00 raffle tickets will be on sale throughout the night for over 20 prizes, including a Rainmaker, a green & energy efficient water generator, Sean Paul tickets or even a ‘staycation’ from Cayman Villas and Villas of the Galleon. If people are feeling really lucky they try riding Rosco the Mechanical Bull for a little more excitement. Organisers say Paramount has taken the lead on radio promotions for this event and listeners can stay tuned on their Spin and Vibe radio stations for more details on Saturday’s Rocktoberfest.

Fundraising for ‘Build It Week’ has reached the minimum goal of $4100 plus dollars for each volunteer to participate in the ‘Build It Week’ with the Haven organisation, but Team Cayman for Haiti is continuing its fundraising to further support the Haven’s “Build it Week”, in which volunteers build houses for the poorest of the poor in Haiti. Haven describes itself as “an Irish non governmental, non political, non religious organisation working to build sustainable communities, through the provision of housing, and emergency relief and by implementing community development programmes in Haiti”.

Team Cayman for Haiti was formed just a little over three months ago by a small group of locals working in different departments of Butterfield. Since then they have held a number of fundraising events.

‘Sports for Kids’ half day camps on the Camana Bay Sports Field enabled kids in Cayman to put their skills to the test with football, basketball and even Gaelic football. The Digicel tents, Quench juices and H20 water kept the kids hydrated energised, while Team Cayman for Haiti volunteers gave it 100% to make it a great day.

The traditional game of Bingo took a modern twist with prizes provided by a number of local restaurants and shops, and with hosts like Ben Maxwell and Jason Howard, players were always at the ready to shout “Bingo” and claim the grand prize of a Apple product supplied by Digicel or a Plasma TV from A.L. Thompson’s. Both the iBingo & eBingo nights at the Dog House were considered a huge success.

Bakers pulled an all nighter of mixing, baking and frosting to supply cakes, cookies and cupcakes for the ‘Bake It sale’ on Saturday, 4 October, outside Book Nook and inside the Butterfield retail at Governor’s Square.

At the ‘Corporate Kicks’ event The Meastros, BDO, Maples, KLE Electric, KPMG, and Digicel all went head to head in their group games battling it out for the final spots in the Cup and Plaque finals. Inthe Plaque final, Butterfield got the better of depleted Maples side by a 2-0 margin. In the Cup final arguably the two strongest teams of the day came head to head: Security Center versus Centre Spot. After 20 minutes of continuous attack, Security Centre came out the winners by a 3-1 margin.

Team Cayman for Haiti member Kathryn Walsh said, “We have just met the minimum amount needed for our team to go to ‘Build It Week’ and will continue our fundraising to further support the Haven organization.’”

Rocktoberfest is the final kick off event, just before the team leaves to go build homes in Haiti and the team says they are grateful to the numerous volunteers, companies and organisations for what has made this team’s goal a success in their first step in building hope for Haiti, one home at a time.

For more information on Team Cayman for Haiti, Rocktoberfest or to buy a raffle ticket please visit the group page ‘Team Cayman for Haiti on Facebook’ or e-mail cayman4haiti@gmail.com