The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Striping Group of Companies in collaboration with the Ministry of Works and Utilities on Friday presented an Exuma Junkanoo group with a cheque for $5,000 for the upcoming Junkanoo season.

Works and Utilities Minister Alfred Sears as well as representatives from BSGC were in Exuma on Friday to tour road works there.

Mr Sears said it was only fitting that while on the island something be given back to the community.

“I want to thank Caribbean Paving Solutions (a subsidiary company of BSGC) for responding, promoting and nurturing and encouraging the cultural artists of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas and here in Exuma,” Mr Sears said.

“The Musical Youth Junkanoo group in Exuma is keeping the African Junkanoo alive and that tradition nourishes the spirit, it also provides the basis of the orange economy.”

Atario Mitchell, BSGC president, said as someone with a grant-winning company from the government’s Self-Starter programme, he knows the importance of funding.

Mr Mitchell said this is why his company continues to support Junkanoo groups in an effort to get the parade back on the streets and up to the standard it was before the pandemic.

“Our company’s philosophy has always been of always giving back, we saw fit to partner with the Musical Youth of Exuma (Junkanoo group), to donate to them a $5,000 cheque to help them with this upcoming Junkanoo parade,” he said.

Ricardo Rolle, leader of the Musical Youth Junkanoo Group, said the money would help them to prepare for the Exuma Junkanoo parade on January 10, 2023.

“We’ve been fighting and struggling to find sponsorship for a little while now and to date actually this is really the first person that came on board to give to us,” Mr Rolle said.

“We can’t do this without good-hearted people in the community. We really appreciate Bahamas Striping for this. We need a whole heap of raw materials like crepe paper, contact glue, so we’ll send this off to Nassau to get stuff right away.”

Earlier this month, BSGC donated $200,000 to the Roots Junkanoo group in New Providence which was to be disbursed in increments of $50,000 per year over the next four years.

This was a part of a continued partnership established with the Roots.

BSGC got its start in 2010 through an initial $5,000 self-starter grant from the government.