Responding to the call made by a 97-member group led by comedian and media personality Errol Fabien, the public, corporate T&T and local and regional soca artistes and deejays showed just how big a heart T&T has on Sunday at the One Caribbean Relief Concert at the Queen's Park oval, Port-of-Spain.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Fabien said the event, originally planned to assist Bermuda after the passage of Hurricane Irma but extended to other islands after Hurricane Maria, received solid support.
“In terms of the gates last night, we saw 800 paying patrons and a further 50 people making cash donations at the gate. We are still doing the accounting to reconcile it,” said Fabien, who was at the venue helping with packing of items to be sent to the various Caricom states affected by the recent hurricanes.
During his interview, Fabien was interrupted several times by people still dropping off relief items. He said the main goal of the concert was to fill a 40-foot container, which was three-quarter filled at the time.
Fabien said items still coming in included 30 mattresses, fabric softener, clothing, water, baby items including pampers, feminine items, general toiletries and food.
He noted the contribution by the performing arts community of T&T, who gave freely of their talent, among them Best Village groups Malick Folk Performers and Wasafoli T&T. He also thanked service providers who gave their services free, including Guardian Media, Johnny Q, Dexter Samai, Premiere Party Rentals and Pro Audio Sound Reinforcement Ltd. The concert also brought together direct telecommunications/broadcasting competitors Flow Trinidad and Digicel which provided the phones and personnel to man the calls for the telethon segment of the concert. Asked how much the telethon received in pledges, Fabien said that was still being tallied.
NLCB also opened its venues across T&T on Sunday to assist the public in making donations via its Wipay You.
The benefit concert brought together the largest gathering of local and regional entertainers, including classical singer Wendy Sheppard, Rupee, Ricardo Dru, Chucky, Freetown Collective, Swappi, 3Canal, calypsonian Ballantyne and a host of others. Halo Foundation founder and CEO Rebecca Welsh also visited T&T specifically for the concert and assisted in fund raising drive.
Asked if One Caribbean Relief will be a one-off event, Fabien said he has been receiving many calls to make it a foundation. For further information on how you can contribute call 707-5661