Edmund Gibbons Limited [EGL] has directed $400,000 in charitable giving to local causes that help Bermuda’s community cope with hardships brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
A spokesperson said, “Edmund Gibbons Limited [EGL] has directed $400,000 in charitable giving to local causes that help Bermuda’s community cope with hardships brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. An additional $100,000 went to the R3 Foundation to fund similar causes in the Cayman Islands, where EGL also does business.
“Donations were made over the past 12 months in the names of Edmund and Winifred Gibbons or Edmund Gibbons Limited. Much of the money, distributed to eight causes in Bermuda and one in Cayman, has already been put to use.
“COVID-19 brought sudden joblessness and immense hardship to communities here in Bermuda and Cayman. The Gibbons family is heartened to know its philanthropy over the past year helped to ease the heavy burden families in these communities faced through no fault of their own,” said an EGL family representative.
“Seven of the eight recipient organisations in Bermuda offered feeding programmes and other services critical to the community at the height of the pandemic and recently. The eighth was directed to the restoration of a children’s playground in Pembroke that was lost to fire. The full list of recipients is as follows:
- Age Concern, hardship programme
- Hardship Fund at Bermuda Foundation [formerly Bermuda Community Foundation]
- Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity, feeding programme
- Christ Church Warwick, feeding programme
- Pigs Field, playground restoration
- Seventh Day Adventist Church, community services
- Transitional Community Services, young adult therapeutic services
- Vernon Temple AME Church, hardship programme
“Vernon Temple is pleased to be included in a giving program that addresses the needs of members of our church and community. We are eternally thankful and grateful to EGL for their generous donation. The COVID pandemic has had a huge negative impact on family incomes and standards of living,” said Rev. Dr. Leonard Santucci, JP, Vernon Temple AME Church.
Bermuda Foundation CEO and Managing Director Myra Virgil thanked EGL on behalf of the non-profit recipients of hardship fund support, saying: “This generous donation to Bermuda’s Hardship Fund managed by the community foundation was much needed and was a huge help to providing essential services to Bermuda’s vulnerable populations. Funds were deployed to essential services in three key areas: provision of food, access to medication, the safety and the security for seniors. In most cases, Bermuda’s nonprofits have been providing these essential services, and it is heart-warming to see how the community of donors like EGL have rallied to enable them to do their job. EGL helped fill a critical need at a critical time.”
