Staff of the Needs Assessment Unit (NAU) showed that their work is more than just a job to them this Christmas. Rallying together, the Unit’s personnel recently raised an internal collection to sponsor a number of families for Christmas in both Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac. These families were chosen based on their circumstances and their continual demonstration of efforts to make improvements to their situations. However, the small number chosen are only a fraction of the clientele that fit this description.

On Wednesday, 21 December 2016 the families were invited to meet with Father Christmas at the Unit’s new NAU, on the first floor of Aqua Mall in George Town, to receive their gifts and have their pictures taken with Santa. As well as the internal collection raised by the NAU, generous donations were also received from the Ministry of Financial Services, Commerce, and Environment and General Registry, as well as from members of the public.

Over the years, the Unit has been fortunate enough to be able to partner with donors including Casanova Restaurant. For several years now, the restaurant has consistently extended its support by hosting an annual Pasta Give Away to provide a free pasta meal to NAU clients.

Both NAU clients and staff are deeply grateful for the support from this year’s contributors.

Editor’s Note:

The Needs Assessment Unit (NAU) provides financial assistance to Caymanians in need. They conduct assessments with this population on a daily basis and therefore are afforded an opportunity to see, first-hand, the need that exists in the Cayman Islands.

The Unit faces many challenges, but nonetheless, is always seeking new ways to better serve the needs of the public. This is done while ensuring the highest quality of services to those in the community who are truly in need. Examples of this have been changes to the scheduling system to ensure quicker appointment times and reduce office congestion in the morning, raising the amount provided in services, and exploring new service options based on community needs among a number of other initiatives. More recently, the NAU have begun renovations on a new office space that will provide clients with more privacy and accessibility. It is anticipated that this space will be in operation by early to mid-January.

Photo caption:

Photo 1: Santa teams up with the NAU to bring Christmas cheer to the unit’s clients.