Guyanese Collis Augustine was yesterday awarded as one of the 12 winners of the inaugural Scotiabank Bright Future Young Leaders Award.
Augustine was one of three Caribbean awardees—the other two hailing from Jamaica—while six of the other nine young people are from Canada and three from Chile.
Augustine has won an iPad for himself and Cdn$2,500 to donate to a charity of his choice.
He has decided that Cdn$1,000 will go to the Guyana Red Cross Society and Cdn$1,500 to For the Children’s Sake Foundation.
Guyana Country Manager Amanda St Aubyn congratulated Augustine for being a “shining example of youth who have the passion and commitment to make an important impact on their community”.
Augustine started volunteering with the Guyana Red Cross Society in April 2011. He notched up over 1,300 volunteer hours in HIV/AIDS awareness, blood drives and nursing care at the Children’s Convalescent Home among other activities.
“People generally need to take time off to volunteer…when you have time to help you should be able to,” Augustine said when asked why volunteering is important to him. He further stated that he was happy, but not surprised about winning the award.
Scotiabank said in a press release that the award recognises youths who make outstanding contributions to their communities.
Additionally, in celebration of women worldwide, Scotiabank marked International Women’s Day which was celebrated on March 8 with local and global initiatives in Guyana and around the world including financial assistance to a single mother of five who works several jobs to maintain them.
In a bid to ease her financial burden, Scotiabank will present the beneficiary with gift certificates to purchase school supplies for her children; pay off their lessons fees for the remainder of the year and give each child a start-up savings account.
Scotiabank and Habitat for Humanity Guyana Inc also launched an exciting cause-related marketing campaign that seeks to involve customers, the public and other stakeholders in one of the bank’s major Bright Future philanthropic initiatives.
