North Leeward Carnival gets EC$12,000 donation

The North Leeward Sports and Cultural Organization, which organises carnival activities in North Leeward, is able to fulfil their financial obligations this year, thanks to a donation of EC$12,000 from their Parliamentary Representative.

President of the group, Elron Lewis explained on Tuesday June 18, 2024, during a media briefing at the conference room of the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC), that lack of sponsorship was one of their main challenges.

This year, they reached out to parliamentary representative for North Leeward, and Minister of Sports and Culture, Carlos James who assisted by making a donation of EC$12,000. This was handed over on Tuesday during the media briefing.

Lewis said his organisation has already staged the area’s carnival launching and Soca Monarch competition, and they are hoping to have Junior Carnival and an all-inclusive event.

He said they always “run to” James for assistance in areas where help is needed and the sponsorship came as a result of that.

“…when I tell him the costs, he said he would look into his own personal budget and see how he could assist us.”

He also said that James inquired about the size of their budget.

“And when I told him the amount, and he told me this morning that you know, basically he would be granting us that amount, you know, we are very grateful,” Lewis said.

The organisation aims to use some of the funds to help pay pending bills as sponsorship and funding are among their main challenges, Lewis explained.

In response, James said that the North Leeward Carnival was very well done, but the organisers needed help and he saw the challenges. With the support of friends of North Leeward and some of his personal resources, they put together the funding.

“They are fortunate to have Carlos James as the parliamentary representative and the Minister of Culture because if I wasn’t able to draw on these resources I don’t know where they were going to find the resources to cover a lot of the bills,” James said, while noting that he wants persons to know that what they do, is done selflessly.