Black Immigrant Daily News
Barbadian soca artiste Marzville is planning to raise between up to $100,000 to assist 400 persons during the Christmas season.
Dear Uncle Marz Charity Drive, which is in its third year, has helped over 200 people across the island.
Speaking at the launch held at the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in Pine, St Michael, Omar ‘Marzville’ McQuilkin, the CEO of Dear Uncle Marz Charity, explained that the charity was birthed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The self-professed lover of the Christmas holidays, shared that he wanted to inspire the holiday spirit during a difficult period.
“I actually love Christmas, it’s my favourite time of the year so that period of time is when most of my family come together. They are all busy hardworking people, my mum the Principal Health Inspector, my aunt God rest her soul was a hard-working nurse, my grand-mother used to work in the School Meals Service so it was a very busy family. Christmas at that time everybody came together and we would all eat, drink, have a time, gifts and all kinds of stuff.”
“So now COVID had hit, pandemic time and I wanted to make sure families could enjoy the same vibe as before, which you know it was hard, everybody had hard times so I decided to come together with Carisia-ann and CBC and make sure we could give back to the less fortunate people, which was a lot because obviously COVID had hit,” Marzville said.
Also speaking to the media, CEO of J’nasa Entertainment and the Dear Uncle Marz Charity, Carisia-ann Francois revealed the charity assisted 185 persons last year and 23 in 2020. She noted that demand was greater in 2021 after news of the charity’s efforts circulated.
“In 2020, we pulled together all of our financial resources and human resources and created hampers with food items, cosmetic items, cake, ham, gifts for the children and so on. On Christmas Eve just like the story of Santa Claus, our team led by Marzville took the streets and drove around the island to deliver those items.That year, 23 lives were touched.
“In 2021, we had an even bigger undertaking. We received even more letters but thankfully more sponsors came on board. With more letters, a greater demand came to raise more funds in order to help more families. We were honored to be joined by the CBC team who assisted us by broadcasting the 2021 Christmas with Uncle Marz Charity Show. Through the help of our partners and sponsors we were able to touch the lives of 185 persons which included 74 adults and 11 children between the age of 2 months and 16 years old,” Francois disclosed.
The charity aims to double its numbers for 2022, assisting approximately 100 families.
Francois urged persons in need or persons who know someone in need to email their stories to dearunclemarz@gmail.com between November 1 to 30. She also appealed to corporate Barbados and the general public to come on board to assist with their $80,000 to $100,000 goal.
“We welcome the enire corporate Barbados and the public to come on board, we really need the help to pull this off. We are hoping to at least raise between $80,000 to $100,000 because we don’t just want to give basket, food hampers, we want to do so much more based on what we have seen over the past couple of years,” she said.
The Dear Uncle Marz Charity Drive is also responsible for Santa’s Fantasy Land and Christmas with Uncle Marz and Friends.
This year’s Santa’s Fantasy Land show which will be the main source of funds for the charity is slated for Sunday, December 18 from 1 pm until 9 pm at the National Botanical Gardens.
NewsAmericasNow.com
