RBC employees today will join their colleagues across the Caribbean and around the world to commemorate RBC Blue Water Day and reaffirm the company's commitment to the delivery of clean, potable sources of water to communities.
At five of its branches (Maraval, West Mall, Independence Square, Chaguanas and St Augustine), the Bank will host a series of activities to raise awareness among clients about the importance of water conservation and protection, a release from the bank said.
Specifically at Independence Square, local artist Rachel Rochford will lend her skill to the cause by sitting in the branch during banking hours and creating a poster to depict this year's theme Why we care about Water.
RBC employees in T&T began their Blue Water Day efforts early when they teamed up with students from the Mayaro Government Primary School and the Bon Accord Primary School to clean the Mayaro and Kilgwyn beaches on June 7.
Employees, students, parents and residents from the communities collected a total of more than 3,000 lbs of garbage from the two beaches. RBC also donated $6,000 to each school to further aid in their efforts to raise awareness for water conservation and protection.
"This was a tremendous partnership with our employees and students, working with our communities to raise awareness about the daily impact we have on our environment and how this affects our future," said Darryl White, Managing Director, RBC Royal Bank (T&T).
Globally, RBC is set to commit CAN$15 million to water protection and awareness over the coming three years, and will recognise this effort through this year's theme: Why We Care About Water.
This is part of a wider ten-year commitment which was launched by RBC in 2007 called the Blue Water Project–a global charity through which RBC will give CAN$50 million to the help provide access to drinkable, swimmable, fishable water, now and for future generations.
More than US$500,000 in leadership grants has been pledged by RBC to charitable organisations in the Caribbean and this year the company will add to that tally with a grant of US$75,000 to the College of the Bahamas to help that institution further its water conservation efforts.
The RBC Blue Water Project uses a series of initiatives and partnerships to be a catalyst of concerted efforts to preserve our water resources, according to RBC Director, Corporate Responsibility, Lynn Patterson.
"We felt that by casting such a wide net we could get to know the fullest range of people and organisations working to protect water, fast track critical funding to a variety of national, regional and community-based projects around the world and learn as much as we could about water, while raising awareness about water issues, Patterson said.
For further information about the RBC Blue Water Project, visit www.rbc.com/bluewater.
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