On October 1, TSTT Board Chairman Emile Elias donated his quarterly board fees of $24,750 to the Cyril Ross Nursery which cares for children with HIV.
Elias is also executive chairman of the NH construction and design/build company. He has a long history in national service and philanthropy.
Elias’ board fees represent three months’ payment (after taxes) for his work as chairman of TSTT.
He said: “I consider the chairmanship of TSTT to be national service. When I do national service, I never keep any of the money paid to me, so the donation today is for three months’ board fees after taxes. I have pledged that each quarter I will make a similar donation to a children’s home.”
Madonna Stewart-Morris, the manager of the Cyril Ross Nursery, thanked him for the donation, and said the money would help to renovate and expand the school. On completion of the proposed works, “the children will have more space to do homework without distraction, because it’s a little cramped,” Morris said.
She shared that the home, which cares for 17 children between the ages of two and 18, currently has two children preparing for SEA and one for CXC.
The home, a facility of the society of St Vincent de Paul charity, has enjoyed TSTT’s generosity over the years. “From the inception, we were part of the Book Buddies programme where the staff of TSTT buy the children’s school books. This year, some of them also bought the school uniforms for the children.”
Elias said, “As long as I continue serving as the chairman of TSTT, I will come here once a year to do this. I am going to make the next donation to St Dominic’s Children’s Home in Belmont.”
He has already donated to Rainbow Rescue and the Couva Children’s Home.
“To me the joy of giving is a very powerful feeling, and to see these children is very touching,” said Elias. He and his wife toured the Cyril Ross Nursery with Stewart-Morris and Rudolph Boneo, who is the national president of the Society of St Vincent de Paul.
