There are so many things that people don’t know about what we do at the Red Cross,” Carolina Ferreira, Deputy Director for the Cayman Islands Red Cross, begins “and the reason for that is because we get caught up in the work and often don’t get an opportunity to share these things with the community,” she adds.

The Cayman Islands Red Cross is currently in the middle of a major capital campaign, Shelter from the Storm, to raise funds to renovate its Headquarters building on Huldah Avenue. The building, which has been serving as a shelter since the late 1980s, is in dire need of updating and upgrading to make it more accessible to Cayman’s most vulnerable community.

While to many the organization’s headquarters is only brick and mortar, to those who need or have needed the organization’s support it really is a home for critical services, in times of peace and disasters.

The CIRC’s Child Protection and Sexuality Education Programme, for example, is best known for the Protection Starts Here (PSH) multi-agency partnership as well as its ongoing delivery of the Darkness to Light child sexual abuse prevention training free of cost to the community. What few people realise, however, is the number of inquiries that the office fields regularly from people needing help to get assistance and access to services. “When you advocate for people and change the community begins to identify you as place to go to for help, any and all kinds of help. Our work isn’t just about what we offer: it’s also about knowing what else is available in the country and putting people in touch with those who provide the services they need,” Ms. Ferreira explains. “Sometimes it may be just providing a phone number or location, but most times it actually involves making that connection for people, setting something up, possibly even getting them to where they need to be. Sometimes people need someone to navigate through the preliminaries with them.”

And that connection isn’t limited to a single programme; it’s what makes the organisation what it is.
The Red Cross’ Thrift Shop Community Outreach Programme, which provides services to those who are referred by key agencies like the Needs Assessment Unit (NAU) and the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), also accepts self-referrals. “When people identify that they need help and they contact us we also conduct assessments to identify not only what we can provide but also what other agencies can offer services,” explains Remy Imperial, Thrift Shop Manager. “It is not uncommon for us to conduct an assessment, identify what we can provide from the Shop, but then also make a referral to NAU or Acts of Random Kindness (ARK) for additional services we don’t provide. The point is to connect people with the help they need,” she adds.

These connections extend far beyond Cayman’s shore throughout the world. Restoring Family Link (RFL) is a global Red Cross programme that connects families and loved ones not only in the immediate aftermath of a disaster but also after long separations.

“The connection between Red Cross Societies is really something amazing,” Ms. Ferreira explains. In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 the Cayman Islands Red Cross assisted several families, Caymanians and expats, who had to relocate temporarily with their children by providing them with a letter to their Red Cross counterparts in the various host countries. These letters essentially confirmed that there had in fact been a devastating hurricane, that schools were closed, and that the country was in the process of assessing the damage which was national.

“In those letters we also asked for any assistance that the receiving National Society could give to these families. We did it in good faith as we had no idea as to what exactly they would be able to do,” she continues. “Several months later when these families returned they made it a point to come find us to tell us what a difference it made to have that with them: that they were able to access school without cost, they had access to winter clothes and proper shoes, and even got additional assistance for the time they were there. All because they had a letter from the Red Cross. That really meant something to us- not just that our sister national societies ‘did right’ by us, but that people made it a point to come back and let us know. ”

Contact: Jondo Obi – Director, Cayman Islands Red Cross Ph: 949 6785 Email: [email protected]