Donate old phones at Rock and Reggae concert

(CNS): Organisers of the Cayman Rock and Reggae Festival, which will take place next month at Camana Bay, have made it easy for those attending donate old phones for a good cause. Music Republic CEO Ian Hemming and Principal Mark Beckford announced that the concert will feature cell phone donation bins to collected used and damaged phones for the Find Your Voice programme benefit the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre. Inspired by KPMG’s global employee philanthropic programme called BRIGHT, Find Your Voice provides clients of the CICC, an organisation dedicated to providing a safe shelter for women and children in abusive relationships, with new mobile phones and new telephone numbers by using the proceeds of the recycled used or damaged mobile phones toward the purchase of new ones.

Music Republic, the hosts of The Rock & Reggae Festival, say it is the first concept in the Cayman Islands which will stage two unique and distinct music genres.

Rarely presented together, the event will feature two headliners, Air Supply and Third World Band celebrating each genre, as well as other up-and-coming acts, such as Chronixx, Brave Yesterday, Stuart Wilson, and Inverse, to create a musically diverse show.

Organisers say that from sundown to early in the morning, the audience can groove to the beats of this artsy, edgy and culturally raw experience in one of the world's premier vacation destinations, the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Rock & Reggae Music Festival 2013 will take place on 12 July at the Festival Green at Camana Bay,Grand Cayman. Gates open at 5:30pm.

The Cayman Islands Crisis Centre is the only women's safe house in the Cayman Islands and has provided housing, counselling and support services to more than 700 women and their children since its inception in 2003. The CICC is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by security personnel and caring individuals trained in providing support and education to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The Crisis Centre provides the services that help clients make a healthy transition to a life free from violence.

Find Your Voice was developed to provide a new phone number, mobile phone, and set amount of pre-paid minutes to women coming through the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre.  A key aspect of the program is involving the community in the solution – the community is asked to donate their old mobile phones and accessories, which are sent to a recycling company.  The proceeds from this are used to fund the program.  This program provides women with independence, a practical aid in their time at the Crisis Centre and afterward, and knowledge that the community has made this program possible.

Photo: CICC Executive Director Ania Sedgley (left) and Gabrielle Beckford, Production Assistant Music Republic,