Communications and entertainment company, Flow Jamaica wrapped up 2022 on a charitable note.

The company’s staff volunteers were among those giving back to communities on International Volunteers Day, which is celebrated on December 5 each year.

The day coincided with the start of Flow’s parent company, Liberty Latin America’s (LLA) Mission Week (#LLAMissionWeek2022), a company-wide initiative where employees in Latin America and the Caribbean contribute their time, energy, and knowledge to positively impact the communities they serve. 

Mission Week is carried out under LLA’s four corporate social responsibility (CSR) pillars – learning, environment, access and disaster relief (LEAD) – with employees across various countries joining together with their charitable foundations, Cable & Wireless Charitable Foundation, Cable & Wireless Panama Foundation, Flow Foundation (Jamaica) and Liberty Puerto Rico Foundation, to extend their reach and provide even greater community support through volunteer efforts. 

Michael Coakley, vice president and head of communications at Liberty Latin America, said the occasion is one that allows the company to make a difference in communities across the region.

“Liberty Latin America’s Mission Week is an important initiative when our colleagues from across the region come together to make a difference in the communities where we live and work. Each year our contributions grow and more of our people get involved in our CSR activities focused on supporting learning, taking care of the environment, enabling digital access, and providing disaster relief,” Coakley said.

He noted that giving back is something the company deems important.

“This is a testament to who we are and why we feel it is so important for us to give back in the communities where we live and operate. I am thankful to all those who enthusiastically volunteered their time to make a positive impact on the lives of thousands of people across our region,” he continued. 

To mark the day, Flow staff volunteers partnered with charity organisation, Food For The Poor (FFP), to construct a house for a needy family in Berwick, Riversdale, St Catherine.

Stephen Price, vice president and general manager at Flow, hailed the efforts of the staff volunteers.

“Volunteerism is a major part of our operations at Flow and our annual mission week allows us to further extend our efforts to help persons in need and to make a difference. We are always looking for opportunities to further positively impact our communities.”

Price, who is also the chairman of the Flow Foundation, shared that the company believes it has a responsibility to educate, to connect, to enable progress, and to help nurture more sustainable and resilient communities across Jamaica.

Development and Marketing Manager at Food For The Poor Marsha Burrell-Rose also welcomed the efforts of the Flow staff volunteers.

“We’re happy to partner with Flow to provide for this needy family. This is a significant contribution to our Build Back The Love Jamaica Campaign,” Burrell-Rose said.

Other mission and charitable activities carried out by the Flow staff volunteers between November 14 and December 9, include online gamification learning strategies for primary teachers; beach clean-up activities at Port Royal in Kingston, Fort Clarence in St Catherine and The Meeting Place Fishing Village in St James where 177 pounds of plastic bottles were collected.

Also, tree planting at several schools and three state homes across the country as well as donations of 1,722 pounds of food and hygiene items to the state homes.

Last year, #LLAMissionWeek activities featured more than 1,250 employees providing 4,000 volunteer hours across 20 countries.

The integration of LLA’s companywide equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) efforts was also a key feature of Mission Week 2022, as many of the company’s volunteer activities included its EDI focus areas of women’s empowerment, LBGTQIA inclusion, in addition to race and ethnicity awareness. 

On November 23 and 25, Flow Jamaica hosted two gender-based violence webinars for the business community and employees respectively, to further heighten awareness about the issue, which is impacting one in four women, according to Jamaica National Survey statistics.