EY65+more: From EY with love

“It’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving”- Mother Theresa

That was the theme of EY Curaçao’s Office Day 2013, a day in which EY Curaçao chose to not only celebrate their employees but to also reaffirm their commitment to the community. During EY Office Day, a committee of employees presented “EY65+more”, a series of unique volunteer projects where all employees could choose to lend a helping hand with the aim of giving 65 hours+more back to the community. All EY-ers were invited to roll up their sleeves in support of an afterschool program, an elderly home, a foster home, a farm for persons with limitations and families all around the island. The call to action was answered immediately, as many EY-ers signed up at the first hour to join the several projects!

Many ways to give
The aim was to complete 5 community projects from November 1^st to November 9^th, but due to the rainy weather forecast the dates were extended. Yet the excitement did not vanish for a moment! Even with torrential rainfall, all EY volunteers read up on the ostrich and showed up to the first project: a reading excursion with children of Fundashon Ban Stimulá Lesamentu to the Ostrich Farm. Thanks to EY most children were able to see the animal they had studied and read about during animal month in real life.

In the meantime, even the office was being transformed. Meeting rooms were cleared for storage, as employees collected basic care items to give to 65 families in need for the holidays. An extensive package with buckets, towels and all sorts of items to pamper the body were sorted during two days, packaged with love and sealed with a personal message. These items were handed to Fundashon Mami Sa, Voedselbank Curaçao, Stichting Acute Noodhulp Armoede and a monastery.

Also not bothered by the weather was a Picasso team ready to brighten the days of approximately 65 children living at Huize St.Jozef/Rose Pelletier. Led by artist Roberto Tjon-a-Meeuw, about 21 children and several EY volunteers had a fun-filled and heartwarming day full of laughter, song, and color. The end product: this beautiful mural masterpiece they can proudly look at every day!

At Mi Amparo in Habaai, our elders also received a token of appreciation that they can take advantage of daily: a life-size checkers board to keep them active! None was happier than one of the daily visitors, Cedric, whose son happened to be a previous checkers champion. In about three hours, a team of advisors, accountants and auditors strategized to bring a board game to life. 

Building a better community

When Zorgboerderij de Savaan advertised that they needed all the hands they could use to rebuild what was left behind after their farm was destroyed for no reason, EY-ers stepped up to the plate. On an early Saturday morning, EY volunteers joined others as they cleared the old to build the new!

We always believed that when people come together they can achieve wonderful things, and in every single one of the EY volunteer projects this was demonstrated anew. Kudos to all of the EY volunteers who brought forth smiles, warmed hearts and left a positive mark by giving with all of their heart.

As a company EY has demonstrated through 65 years of excellence a commitment to making the difference for their clients, their people and their community.

THANK YOU for the LOVE EY, and we wish you 65+ many more years of building a better community.     

For more pictures of EY65+more visit: www.facebook.com/curacaocares

Bearingpoint Caribbean’s Autumn Camp: Empowering the next generation of students

Summer break is not the only time to organize an awesome camp; this year Bearingpoint Caribbean (BE) organized its first ever Autumn Camp! The goal of this skills-camp was to have an impact on young people’s lives by offering them opportunities to learn, to discover talents and to be exposed to new and stimulating environments and experiences. Curaçao Cares invited Fundashon Kompa Nanzi’s leerinstituut Klimop to participate with a selection of children between the ages of 12 and 15 years old.

Kickoff!

Day 1 kicked off with energetic introductory words by MC ‘Tio’ Gino Jacobs, Senior Consultant at Bearingpoint. Every student also received a Welcome packet comprised of a t-shirt, a USB stick and other school supplies. The group then took a tour of Bearingpoint’s office, where they had a chance to look behind the scenes and speak with different employees. The students were really impressed by Manager Icheron Constancia, who spoke about his journey before and with Bearingpoint and the many opportunities he has had to travel and grow both professionally and personally. But the Autumn Camp was off to its official start when students were paired with a ‘buddy’, a BE employee, during the icebreaker game. The buddies hit it off from the get go. One could immediately tell that this group of potential IT specialists were excited and eager to get started!

‘Tio’ in the morning, Consultant in the afternoon

Each student was paired one-on-one with a BearingPoint buddy, meaning every student in fact had a personal Consultant/Analyst, Senior Consultant or even Senior Manager/Director devoted to supporting them along the way (the privilege!). A meeting room was turned into the designated Autumn Camp lab where students partook in different workshops on MS PowerPoint, presentation techniques and other IT and professional skills.They even got a quick session from consultant Kris Samsom on how to navigate the BE informed software platform. By the end of it they helped create a model that would predict whether they would pass the year: input = hasi bo best + (afhankelijk van) hal bon punto = output: exito sigur!”. The Autumn Camp classroom was filled with enthusiastic energy from both the students and the employees.

To inspire and to be inspired…

They say never to underestimate a child. This reigned true throughout the Autumn Camp. On Wednesday, the last day of the Autumn Camp, it was presentation time! The students and their buddies had a special assignment to work out a 5-minute presentation that would answer the following three questions; who is your idol, what are the characteristics that make your idol so inspiring and how can these characteristics benefit Curacao?

A panel of judges would pick out their favourite presentations. When the time came, a few students were a little nervous, seemingly going through Senior Consultant Menno Vinck’s presentation do’s and don’ts in their head. But all of them were determined! It was remarkable to see the effort that all of these students took to apply what they had learned, and to share what had inspired them and what they think should serve as inspiration for Curaçao. The winning presentation by Rajeev Sanchez was a smartly crafted powerpoint..but it was the message that was most powerful:”Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go”, by -T.S Elliott. For Rajeev, Alton Paas is a perfect role model for Curacaoans: a young man that was not afraid to pursue what he believed was possible and to persevere despite the obstacles.

The conclusion of the Autumn Camp: Bearingpoint Caribbean’s young and dynamic staff paid it forward by sharing their passions and talents, but they were also inspired as they saw the young students rise to the occasion.

For more pictures of the Autumn Camp visit www.facebook.com/curacaocares/autumncamp

From Passion to Project...

by Lysaye de Windt

Class Routine

Me: “Ok class, let’s see if you remember… When I photograph a subject from and very low angle, how will it appear... class: “Larger than usual”… Me: “And if I take the same photograph from an high angle, looking down at the subject, how will it look now? Class: “Much smaller!”

The Beginning...

About a year ago, Mrs. Dulcie Goedgedrag had mentioned that Mrs. Roline Sillé, principal at the Van Houte School, might need some help with photographing some pupils of her school. She suggested I get in touch with Mrs. Sille. Little did I know, this project would become such an amazing journey including photography, teaching, learning, sharing, volunteering and a main motivation for what is today, Curaçao Cares.

Mrs. Sillé shared that; “I’ve noticed that some of my students have a low self-esteem as they are continuously being teased about not being pretty enough etc. I would love for you to photograph them, so they can see their natural beauty, and build their self-confidence.”

I started thinking how much more of an impact it would have to not only photograph these kids, but to also teach them how to view their surroundings from a different perspective through a lens; teach them about photography. The mission: to teach circa 90 pupils of this special education school about visual art and to enable them to use photography as a medium for self-expression. In developing their social and creative skills the students would also have an opportunity to increase their self-assurance. Ultimately, the Van Houte School pupils would participate in a number of photography classes, photography excursions, photo review session, mixed-media classes and in the end an exhibit showcasing their talent.

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do SO MUCH.”
Maduro & Curiel's Bank was looking for a project in the Brievengat nieghborhood in which their employees could participate as volunteers. When they found out about the visual arts project, they were excited to participate.

MCB volunteer in action - photo excursion in Fleur de Marie

The MCB volunteers joined the photography classes and shared their love for photography and left the students with useful advice in preparation for their photo excursions. They joined the students on several field trips to Fleur de Marie, Sint Annabaai harbor, Landhuis Bloemhof and Parke Tropikal, based on the school’s curriculum, ranging from topics like Punda, the harbor and nature. With each click of the shutter to capture their images, students were encouraged to answer two questions: First, 'what inspired you and why did you choose to capture it from that particular angle'?

Photograph by student @  Parke Tropikal
Curacao Zoo & Nature Reserve

We could see the students self-confidence grow as they saw their photograph projected during class. But as creativity is endless, the project did not end there. Giovani Zanolino gladly accepted the invitation to share his mixed-media skills with the students. The student’s favorite photograph was used as part of their collage masterpiece. As the MCB volunteers helped the students cut and glue their collage together, Giovanni guided them in bringing their collage to life. Last but not least a third element was added the work; the element of paint.

Giovani Zanolino volunteering
during the collage sessions @ van Houte School

The exhibit
After many hours of planning and organizing to crystalize this project, the best part is yet to come. On Saturday July 6th 2013, we invite everyone to 'Ban Topa den Punda' as Curaçao Cares together with MCB will host the van Houte School student art exhibit at Plaza JoJo Correa, revealing the students photographs and mixed media collages.

A very special Thank You goes to Saskia de Rijke from Connect Business Advisory for volunteering her consulting and writing skills and Maduro & Curiel's Bank for generously supporting to realize every single detail of this project. We could not have put this together without the commitment of MCB volunteers!

Keep Calm and Volunteer Often