R3 Cayman Foundation is pleased to announce a first series of grants totalling CI$346,000 to several local non-profit organisations with programmes in the areas of Relief and Recovery.

R3 Chairman Bryan Hunter says the initial grants were informed by the results of the Foundation’s recent community needs assessment survey and supported by targeted consultations with key players in the local non-profit community.

“R3 Cayman Foundation wants to ensure our grants have the maximum positive impact in the local community and the survey helped clarify the most urgent needs,” said Mr. Hunter. “Our first grants seek to address the urgent humanitarian issues of hunger and access to education. We are proud to announce our first grants will support a number of food charities serving vulnerable populations, provide disadvantaged students with much-needed technology, enable 10 unemployed Caymanians to receive vocational training, and allow a number of underprivileged children to participate in a YMCA summer camp to assist their parents in their return to work.”

Relief: Education, Food Assistance
R3’s first grants in the ‘Relief’ area focus on local education and food relief efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of CI$110,000 was donated to Cayman’s Acts of Random Kindness, Meals On Wheels, Feed Our Future, Cayman Food Bank and Resilience Cayman in support of their vital efforts to provide nutritious meals and food vouchers to families and individuals in need.

In addition, a CI$150,000 grant was made to Literacy Is For Everyone (LIFE) in support of its Education for Everyone programme which, through close collaboration with the Ministry of Education, provides children in need with laptops and internet access to enable distance learning. R3’s grant will cover the cost of approximately 357 laptops which will be distributed directly to students through their school principals.

Recovery: Training, Childcare
To support the reskilling of unemployed Caymanians displaced by COVID-19, R3 has also donated CI$56,000 to Build Your Future Cayman, a new non-profit organisation which provides scholarships for Caymanians to pursue vocational and technical qualifications through Inspire Cayman Training. This donation will enable full scholarships for 10 Caymanians who lost their jobs due to COVID-19 to receive accelerated training.

Following the recent announcement that summer camps will be able to operate in the Cayman Islands from 5 July, and recognising the growing need for childcare solutions to support parents in their return to work, R3 has also committed CI$30,000 to the YMCA in support of its summer camp programme to provide free or deeply discounted placements for underprivileged children.

Online Application Launched
Mr. Hunter says local organisations, individuals and community groups can now apply online for funding from R3.

“The Board felt the urgency of the needs in the areas of education, food relief, reskilling and childcare support required immediate action. We seized the opportunity to provide children with the desperately needed technology to facilitate remote learning and make sure children of lower income households don’t fall further behind in their studies, and to help prepare unemployed Caymanians to take part in our country’s economic recovery, and ensure no one in our community goes hungry,” he said. “Going forward, organisations and individuals seeking an R3 grant will be asked to complete a short application form available for download on our website.”

Registered as a non-profit organisation less than four weeks ago, R3 is a private sector-led, charitable organisation whose mission is to help our three islands proactively prepare for, resiliently cope with and sustainably recover from manmade or natural emergencies and disasters. Currently, R3’s funding efforts are focused on addressing the unprecedented human and economic hardship resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, and preparedness efforts for the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season.