WILLEMSTAD - Year number eight is shaping up to be great for the region’s largest cancer fundraising and awareness event - CIBC FirstCaribbean’s Walk for the Cure.
Miss Universe Curaçao Kyrsha Attaf, received the first official CIBC FirstCaribbean Walk for the Cure, from the bank’s Marketing Manager in Curaçao Mrs. Lysaira Ortela. Mrs. Attaf, has thrown her support behind the walk and encouraged others to join the 2019 walk to raise fund for the fight against cancer in Curaçao.
The walkers will hit the streets of Punda and Pietermaai on Saturday October 19, 2019. Tickets are already on sale at the CIBC FirstCaribbean’s branch in Pietermaai.
With a new executive co-chair and several new walk managers heading in-house planning committees across the bank’s 16-member footprint, all seems set for the event to surpass its target of USD$550 000 this year. Over the last seven years the event has raised over USD$ 2.2million.
CIBC FirstCaribbean would like to thank AD, Always, Amigoe, Extra, Hyundai, LBH Group, NuCuraçao Windparken B.V. and Tampax for their support to this year’s Walk.
New walk executive co-chair Dan Wright is very excited about this year’s walk and predicts that it could be “our biggest walk ever!” He noted “it’s rare to find someone who’s life has not been touched by cancer either directly or indirectly and anything we can do to assist in finding a cure is time well spent”.
Mr. Wright who is also the bank’s Managing Director, Wealth Management noted that “CIBC First Caribbean has a long tradition of giving back to the communities in which we work and live and it is an honour to be involved at the leadership level in Walk for the Cure 2019. I have been a regular participant and supporter of this event. We have a very engaged team across the region and I look forward to our biggest walk ever!”
Fellow executive co-chair and Managing Director, Retail and Business Banking, Mark St. Hill said he was “humbled to be associated with the Walk for the Cure which continues to positively impact the communities we operate in helping so many individuals and families that are dealing with the scourge of cancer”.
The efforts of the corporate partners coupled with the creative and tireless efforts of hundreds of CIBC FirstCaribbean employees who engage in diverse fundraising activities and events have propelled the fundraising from a modest USD$30 000 at the inception of the walk seven years ago to the staggering USD$512,367.39 raised in 2018. All proceeds from the CIBC FirstCaribbean Walk for the Cure in Curaçao, and other related fundraising activities, will be donated to Princes Wilhelmina Fonds.
The funds generated from the walk, which is held in partnership with cancer care organisations in each territory, are truly life changing. The funds are used primarily to assist with the purchase and maintenance of equipment used in the diagnosis and treatment of patients.
They are also used to provide assistance, care and counselling to patients and their families as well as to raise awareness, and stress the importance of early detection, through education campaigns across the region.