 The Prime Minister's Ball 2020 was threefold. The event which formed part of St Lucia's 41st year of independence, served as a platform to recognize outgoing diplomats, introduce St Lucia's goodwill ambassadors, and most importantly, raise funds for the various humanitarian organizations in St Lucia. At a special ceremony, checks were presented to 17 humanitarian organizations, amounting to almost $300,000. Chairperson of the Independence Committee on Oble Janine Jirodi McIntyre expressed gratitude to all the benefitting entities for their hard work and dedication to making St Lucia a better place. Now each year, while we enjoy the gala, we never lose sight of the fact that the purpose of this event is to raise funds for worthy charities. So I salute you, the recipients of these checks. Your work is not just appreciated, it is vital to the social stability of our nation. The checks you receive today are expressions of love, gratitude, and charity from your fellow citizens and the corporate community. Thank you for standing in service to the almighty and for being your brother's keepers. Prime Minister St Lucia, the Honorable Alan Shastney made some remarks. I want to say to all of you who said thank you, that really we owe you the thanks. Honestly, what you do is incredible. The Boys Training Center received $50,000. I'll tell you a little about the Boys Training Center. The Boys Training Center is a juvenile rehabilitation center and in February last this year we celebrated 60 years of existence. We catered to two categories of boys, boys that are in need of care and protection and juveniles that are in conflict with the law. Recently 2018, the juvenile justice act was passed and the age of a child moved from 16 to 18 years old. So now we have boys we wouldn't necessarily have come into the center, come into us right now. Over the past three years we have embarked on a program to ensure that the boys who come to us not only receive the counseling that they need but a holistic program. The St Lucia National Youth Council received $25,000. We have been working tirelessly to develop a space, a safe space for young people in the heart of castries where young people could access services such as library, computer services, counseling and opportunities for them to contribute through volunteerism. But more importantly one where they could feel like they're part of a family. Our efforts remain steady and incremental at best but we have not been able to fully conceptualize this idea or fully realize this idea rather. So upon assuming office in 2019 my team and I vowed that before our tenure was completed that we would work to create that safe space where young people could in St Lucia could feel that they are welcomed and where the Secretariat of the National Youth Council could be housed. We met with Honorable Allen Chastney back in August of 2019 and this was one of the things discussed and he gave his commitment during that meeting that he would do his utmost best to ensure that this became a reality. This generous donation received today will go directly towards the upgrading and the creation of that safe space. So on behalf of the St Lucia National Youth Council I would like to thank you Honorable Chastney for sticking to your commitment to assist us in the creation of that safe space. Do something different received five thousand dollars. As I was saying gratitude is truly the pillar on which we stand that do something different and we are an entirely youth driven non-profit organization that focuses on uplifting and empowering underprivileged students on island. This year of course in light of the pandemic it's forced us to re-strategize and re-evaluate how we work before we were focused a lot more on school bars and stationery and textbooks but this year we're really focusing on purchasing endpoint devices that can go towards facilitating e-learning. Adenu Setlisi received 7500 dollars. Adenu Setlisi was formed by two young persons and we're very driven with a dynamic team behind us but it all started due to the first shutdown of COVID. We saw the need to feed frontliners and we saw the need to feed less fortunate persons around the island and that started and to date we have basically donated 8000 meals to less fortunate persons and frontliners around the island. The Pierre Foundation received 7500 dollars. Given the existence of COVID-19 the government needed to urgently adapt measures to protecting the country's poorest and most vulnerable. On March 24th 2020 the government announced a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus in our country and the less fortunate was taken off the streets and housed at the VG complex. As a means to help this cause and assist the government in taking care of the homeless we put together the Pierre Foundation, me myself, my fiance and other young members in society. Our foundation was able to cook meals daily, breakfast, lunch and dinner for over more than 50 persons. We were able to take the homeless to the hospitals to receive medical care and also provide them prescription drugs that was provided to them. Girls of a feather received the 10,000 dollars. This should be noted that at a time of heightened uncertainty and concern for girls today due to the recent pandemic the investment will help bolster much needed programs for them both new and existing. As we transition this year into a full-time operation the allocation of funds will be used towards the opening of our very first new space where we will continue to host our flagship mentorship programs for girls with ease in addition to launching a live website offering e-support services to adolescents and young adults. The Salvation Army received 10,000 dollars. This kind donation it's a much needed donation at this time because like most of the other organizations that are represented here we are without income but this will go along we in helping us to continue what we have been doing. The Salvation Army has been in St Lucia now for a hundred and sorry for from we were established in 1912 so that makes us about 120 years old and we have been consistent in assisting those who are less fortunate. Yes we are a faith-based organization and what we do is because of the love of Jesus Christ and we are a stand on that platform. The St Lucia Crisis Center received 10,000 dollars. The St Lucia Crisis Center is a non-governmental organization which strives for the elimination of all forms of abuse in the society by providing psychosocial support through counseling, education, specific referrals among others. Helen's daughters received 15,000 dollars and if you walk into that market right now 90 percent of the vendors are female but for some reason there's this erroneous tendency to believe that our vendors are not our growers when a lot of times they are doing the dual role of both growing and selling their produce and honestly this donation thank you to the prime minister and his and to his wife Mrs Duley Shasne it's really telling us that finally on a national level we are seeing we are hearing and we are understanding the importance of an investment in female farmers. Good morning everyone on behalf of Helen's daughter and voicing as a female farmer as myself I would like to thank the prime minister of St Lucia for for believing and investing in us as I believe that female farmers are the one covering the food insecurity in St Lucia thank you. St Lucia Cadet Corps received 10,000 dollars. This donation will definitely go a very long way in helping us to augment our uniform supplies. The St Lucia Cadet Corps last week incidentally celebrated 91 years in St Lucia. We are an organization that has its motto of leadership, discipline and service and I must say that we can find lots of our members in all aspects of society today. We definitely see ourselves as one of the leading youth organizations in St Lucia. The St Lucia's home received 15,000 dollars. St Lucia's home is a home for street and homeless people of St Lucia and the number the population of the home as I speak is about 40 and the number is growing steadily daily. Senator Belrose can attest to that. I tell you no more. When the people get to St Lucia's home we give them the best care and attention that we can offer and it's done at no cost to them and without discrimination. The St Lucia Blind Welfare Association received 20,000 dollars. St Lucia Blind Welfare Association in recent times have taken some hits started around 2016. It has nothing to do with the advent of the new prime minister. But we are thankful that his office has to the best of his ability have been standing in the corner of the SLBWA and also other departments of government. But even more so St Lucia, you are responsible for keeping the St Lucia Blind Welfare Association alive and you do so because of what it meant to you. You do so because of the extent of its work and its effort which has affected you right around the island. View for Children's Society received 25,000 dollars. And we work with vulnerable and abused children aged from three to ten. We currently have six children aged from four to fourteen. It was needed for this child so we just had to take her and we would like to big thanks. We thank you all so much. Definitely, we are really in need of funds because it's a charitable organization and we depend a lot on local businesses and the community to sustain us so this will go a long way for us. New beginning transit home received 10,000 dollars. The new beginning transit home was open on January 18, 2011 for the purpose of providing a temporary place of safety and intervention services for children who have been abused and neglected. Through the emotional support and skills of our workers, we help prepare our children for the eventual reintegration with family or the placement into foster care. For each child to reach their full potential and to reduce the intergenerational cycle of abuse. The National Council of and for persons with disabilities received 25,000 dollars. Our members suffered the highest rates of poverty, unemployment, sexual and physical abuse, isolation, lack of access to education, healthcare and even social protection. No amount of assistance to our sector will ever be too much and we are most grateful. Prime Minister, Mrs. Shastney, we give you our assurance that this amount will go a long way in assisting us in serving our first membership in St. Lucia and we look forward to your further intervention and generosity. Viewford Comprehensive Secondary School Science Lab received 20,000 dollars. We graciously accept this donation on behalf of every student and staff member of Viewford Comprehensive Secondary School. Particularly the science team whose vision it is to see that every child reaps the benefits of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. This desire holds greater currency in the post-COVID era where traditional careers are fast giving way to new and emerging ones highly dependent on STEM skill sets. The urgency therefore to help us find practical solutions to today's problems while anticipating future challenges is even more critical. Your support no doubt will translate to much greater opportunities for us as the students outside the traditional realm of education and thanks to you will be more globally competitive and ready to integrate into and positively shape the markets that are both current and emerging. So as the president of our science club and as a student of science myself and on behalf of our school we thank you Mrs. Duble Shasne Mr. Shasne and everybody who has patronized this movement so that we could have been impacted and we could really go forward with STEM education at our school. The Moghuj Club 60 Adult Daycare Center received 25,000 dollars. What we do at the daycare, they come in in the morning, we have prayers, we have a singalong, we give them breakfast, we do the personal hygiene, we give them change of clothes, then they have a hot meal, they have games of whatever they would like to do, play dominoes, exercise. The fund will go a long way in helping to alleviate the plight of the older persons in the community as well as those who attend the daycare center on a three-day basis. So we open, we only open on three days for the week because of lack of fund. The check presentation was held on Monday 20 of July 2020. From the Government Information Service, I am Genell Norville.