In 2003 First Caribbean International Bank began shining the light
on everyday do-gooders through its Unsung Heroes Program. Dozens of names are
submitted, few are chosen as local finalists and only one is selected annually
as the regional winner. But Belize has been doing well: four out of the five
Regional Unsung Heroes have come from this country and this year they hope to
make it a fifth.
The 2008 search was launched this afternoon. We spoke to local coordinator
Irene Hernandez and First Caribbean Nank’s new country manager Glen Smith.
Irene Hernandez, Country Coordinator
“We are asking the Belizean public to please assist us. We want nominations
in for ordinary people who are out there doing the extraordinary. We look for
people who are not well known, not very visible in the media. We ask for nominations
for people whose causes are not really known and whose cause can do with the
financial assistance that the bank offers and we ask that they be willing to
participate in the bank’s PR program. Those are the basic criteria. We
try to stay away from anybody that’s political, very strong religious
movement, etc. But the basic thing is the ordinary person doing the extraordinary.
I don’t think we’ve ran out of unsung heroes. The Belizean
people, we know they are hiding somewhere. Usually these are people that assist
others, doing like to be in the spotlight and we actually have to try to pull
them out of whatever little corner of Belize they are at. I am sure that there
are more unsung heroes and we are looking for that regional winner as well.”
Glen Smith, Country Manager - FCIB
“Well First Caribbean has a social conscience and in regards to our
operations we give back 1% of our profits to the community and the unsung heroes
program is the flagship program that we use to channel back funds towards helping
our communities in which we operate.”
Nomination forms are available at all First Caribbean Bank branches
or on their website at FirstCaribbeanBank.com.
Deadline for the submission of entries is June 30th. The local finalists will
be announced in October and the regional unsung hero will be announced in November.
Local finalists receive US$6,000 towards their cause. The regional hero will
receive an additional US$7.500 towards their cause.
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