ARK and Aon join forces to help Cayman’s needy families

Aon Insurance Managers up with Cayman’s Acts of Random Kindness charity recently to collect groceries for Cayman’s needy families.

The drive is a part of ARK’s Pantry, a project aimed at helping local families out with their groceries, which grew out of “Giving is Receiving,” the title of the charity’s Christmas time food drive.

Alison Lomax of ARK said: “Most of us are lucky enough to live a privileged life on this wonderful island but together with our other causes, ARK has identified a surprisingly large number of families struggling with unemployment and hunger.

“ARK is acutely aware that hunger is not just a seasonal problem and due to the phenomenal response to ARK’s “Giving is Receiving” project before Christmas, we decided to set up Cayman ARK’s Pantry whereby struggling families can choose essential food and household items.”

“We are delighted that Aon Insurance Managers (Cayman) Limited has committed to organise a food drive twice a year to help stock ARK’s Pantry and we cannot thank the management and staff enough for their incredible generosity.

“Aon’s first food drive was organised throughout July and they managed to collect a huge amount of food, household items and over $500 worth of food vouchers.  It is acts of random kindness like this that will make a huge difference in our community.”

Paul Fitzgerald the Aon Insurance Managers’ Social Committee representative said: “The donations were raised from two sources – staff members contributed by bringing food supplies and the profits of the office tuck shop went towards food items and food vouchers. In addition, Aon as a Company matched the profits raised by the tuck shop.”

Cayman’s Ark began a few years ago when a group of women in Cayman, who were used to going out and meeting one another in restaurants, decided they would meet in one another’s homes, and save their restaurant money for a good cause.

Each month another ARK member took it in turns to give a presentation on a different cause.

Since that time the organization has been overwhelmed with an increasing number of causes, from medical expenses for a young child battling a heart ventricle tumor, to helping send a boat filled with supplies to earthquake-ravaged Haiti.