On Monday 20th September, telecommunications company Digicel showed once again that it is committed to community development when Marketing Executive Justin John handed over a sponsorship cheque to the local Toastmasters Club.

Accepting the monetary donation of EC$1500, Toastmasters Area Governor for Area 20 (St. Lucia and SVG) Jacinta ‘Jo’ Elliott explained that the money is just part of Digicel’s contribution to the group’s 2010 Toastmaster’s Conference which will run from Friday October 15^th to Sunday 17th. Elliott revealed that Digicel’s total contribution amounts to some EC$12,000. Elliott was accompanied to Digicel’s Corporate Offices in the Lewis Building on James Street by Immediate Past President of the local Achievers Toastmasters Cub Francesca Onu.

“This has really really helped us and we are very grateful for Digicel’s contribution”, said Elliott who revealed that the Toastmasters Club had approached many other businesses but did not get the response it did from Digicel. She revealed that Digicel’s contribution included radio advertisements, T-Shirts and a donation of three cellular handsets, one of which is currently being raffled by the group. Encouraging persons to support the raffle, Elliott said that the tickets can be bought from any member of the Toastmasters Club at EC$5 single or EC$20 for a book of five tickets, “imagine winning a Blackberry for just EC$5”, Elliott said. The raffle will be held this Sunday during the Toastmasters Annual Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contest at the Paradise Beach Hotel in Villa.

Explaining the October Conference, Elliott said that October’s conference is one of two conferences held by regional Toastmaster body (District 81 Caribbean District). She said that the other conference was held in May in St. Lucia and SVG has won the bid to host the October conference which will be held at Sunset Shores Beach Hotel and Paradise Beach Hotel which are both located in Villa.

The conference will begin on Friday October 15^th with education sessions in the morning while it will be officially declared open during a ceremony at the Prime Minister’s residence on Friday evening. On Saturday, the regional speech competition will be held at 2.30 p.m. at the Methodist Church Hall in Kingstown while on Sunday October 18^th the group will picnic at Rawacou. The conference which is expected to attract some 130 persons from the region will carry the theme, “Teamwork makes the Dream Work”.

Commenting, Marketing Executive John said that Digicel’s donation is just the company’s way of supporting a venture that they see as worthwhile.