In one of its proudest moments yet, Scotia Bank today delivered a spanking new two bedroom bungalow to a very grateful, hardworking young couple and their 2 yr old daughter. And what's even more impressive, it did it thru the hard work and commitment from dozens of its employees. The house which was built in Bellama Phase Four is a dream come true for William and Aracelli Portillo who had a piece of land but no money to build it. It's the first of many to come says, Scotia Bank's Commercial Banking Manager, Douglas Bowen who elaborated that this latest initiative, is all part of how the Bank views its social responsibility.
Douglas Bowen, Scotia Bank's Commercial Banking Manager
"Our plan when we first envision it was to build a home for a needy family. It grew from there when we started the fundraising initiatives and when we discuss our plan with the corporate entity, with Scotia Bank in Toronto, the issue was made as a part of our corporate responsibility it is best for the bank to also pitch in so we were able to secure funds from the bank as well as funds from the initiatives that we do in the gathering of funds as a staff initiative and we've
been quite successful over the last two or so years when the project began and this really is the brain child of the commercial unit but the result as you can see is one home here and our plan is actually not to stop at one home but to be able to do maybe 4 or 5 homes over another year or year and a half, that's our real plan."
Jim McFadzean
"How did the hand in hand ministries come in to this whole initiative?"
Douglas Bowen, Scotia Bank's Commercial Banking Manager
"Well hand in hand is an organization that is worldwide and when we heard about the organization we felt that we would allow for our efforts to be complimentary to what they do. What hand in hand actually does is that they do the selection process of the candidates, so they would be able to look around for needy families and those that would need to have a home and then they try to have some sort of funding base to do it and that's where we come in. We provide the funding base, like I said this is the first of many. The other initiative - for every dollar we raise the bank will match it - it's complementing dollar. So what it means is that we will continue to raise funds as we go forward, but the initiative will certainly expand as the matching funds are made by the bank."
Landy Salazar, Sr. Relationship Manager
"We went with the house that cost approximately $15,000.00 and as Doug has mention a lot of that came firm hard work of the staff of the entire bank countrywide. we've held raffles and as a result of some amazing support from corporate houses in the country we were able to raise sufficient funds to build this one home."
The Portillos say they are grateful to Scotia Bank and its employees for providing them not only with the opportunity to own a home, but a spacious dwelling and a healthier environment for their child to grow.
The couple have been living in their home for the last two weeks and today was the official blessing, and public relations inauguration…
Vintage Andy
And on this third anniversary of Andy Palacio's death we end the news with a classic video that we're told was released for the first time today. That's something because it was shot two decades ago!
It's for Andy's 1989 hit song Watu and the video was filmed in Los Angeles and Malibu in 1990. We don't know the story of how it got shelved for two decades but the video was posted on youtube today and we have it for you tonight.
It was directed by Jamal Goree AND produced by Patrick Barrow.
It's truly special, and as we all remember Andy we leave you with it tonight….
