TT economy must help the poor

FOUNDATION FOR the Enhancement and Enrichment of Life (FEEL) CEO, Clive Pantin, yesterday said the continued good health of Trinidad and Tobago’s economy means nothing to the nation’s poor if those economic benefits do not uplift them. Speaking at the launch of the 2006 British Gas Energy Challenge in St Clair, Pantin said it breaks his heart to see so many poor people in TT today and simultaneously hear about continued good prospects for the national economy.

He said the poor do not care about how good the economy is doing, and more must be done by those in authority to ensure that the economic benefits which the country is now enjoying filters down to those in need. Pantin added that since its inception in 1992, FEEL continues to “look for the little people who can’t exist without help” and many people had no idea how a dose of humanity could lift “the ego of the downtrodden.” Noting that FEEL is a parent organisation to 124 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in TT, Pantin said FEEL publishes its audited accounts annually and allocates a maximum of $25,000 to each of these organisations under certain conditions so that no one can question its integrity.

United Way (TT) chairman Conrad Aleong said poverty was one of many problems plaguing TT today and United Way was grateful for the levels of private sector support provided by companies such as British Gas towards addressing those problems. He said United Way received $743,000 out of the $1.5 million raised during the 2005 British Gas Energy Challenge and used those monies to assist groups such as the Chest and Heart Foundation ($30,000), Moms in Laventille ($181,000), Servol ($131,000) and Families in Action ($75,000). Aleong said the only way to bring the society back to what it was in the past is through focusing on rebuilding the family as the basic building block of society.

On the issue of crime, Aleong said he was more concerned about his safety today than he was as a youth growing up in Belmont. British Gas (TT) Chief of Staff Derek Hudson said this year’s Energy Challenge will build on the success of last year’s event and the goal of this year’s event is to raise $2 million which will be donated to FEEL and United Way for distribution to needy persons and charitable organisations.