How a Sandals holiday helps clients and agents give back to Caribbean communities

07 Sep 2021by Madeleine Barber

The Sandals Foundation is making waves in Caribbean communities with its charitable initiatives. Madeleine Barber finds out more

Madeleine Barber

Head of partner content

Madeleine Barber

Head of partner content

Since launching in 2011, more than 16,000 guests have taken part in Sandals Foundations' Reading Road Trip

Since it launched in 2009, the Sandals Foundation has been committed to supporting vulnerable people in the communities surrounding its Sandals and Beaches resorts in the Caribbean.

The non-profit organisation continues to launch new and develop existing programmes, with one example being a recent expansion to its Pack for a Purpose partnership. This initiative, which has been running since March, allows guests to donate sanitary products to local women’s centres upon arrival at Sandals and Beaches resorts in the Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica.

“Period poverty is a problem all over the world and now, more than ever, disadvantaged women in the Caribbean are finding it difficult to access the products they need,” says Heidi Clarke, director of the Sandals Foundation.

“By bringing one or two packs of sanitary towels or tampons with them, guests can do their bit to help women who are living difficult lives, and they weigh next to nothing so guests don’t need to worry about exceeding their luggage weight allowance.”

IMPROVING EDUCATION

Guests are able to donate school supplies and books as part of Pack for a Purpose too, while another Sandals Foundation programme, Reading Road Trip, takes a group of guests armed with their favourite books to local schools every week to participate in reading sessions and offer literacy, comprehension and vocabulary support to students.

The excursion costs $25pp to cover transport fees, with any change being funnelled back into the Sandals Foundation to help fund training for teachers, new technology and supplies, and to support school infrastructure.

Since its launch in 2011, 16,480 guests have joined the Reading Road Trip, donating more than 283,000 books to more than 1,148 schools across the Caribbean.

“It has gone from strength to strength,” says Clarke of the programme, explaining that charitable initiatives don’t just benefit local communities on the ground, but they can help the travel trade in their businesses too.

“One travel agent came to Jamaica saying she didn’t really sell the destination, took part in the Reading Road Trip, then went home and wrote about her experience [for her customers], and now it’s the number one country she sells,” Clarke recalls.

Sandals is hoping to resume the Reading Road Trip tour in January after putting it on pause due to the pandemic.

Clarke adds that agents should be talking to their clients about charity initiatives such as Pack for a Purpose when they make bookings, as “people are becoming a lot more conscientious when they choose travel.”

SUPPORTING THE SEA

It’s not just local communities that the Sandals Foundation is working to support and protect, it’s the marine environment too.

The Island Routes Turtle Watching Experience at Sandals and Beaches Resorts in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, invites guests to help monitor and support turtle hatchlings as they make their journey from nest to sea. Last year, the Sandals Foundation helped with the release of 18,940 hatchlings.

Through a second environmental programme, Rebuilding Reefs, visitors are taught how corals are planted, while Padi-certified guests can dive in the ocean and use their newfound knowledge to plant their own, helping to save the Caribbean’s coral reefs and maintain biodiversity in the process.

“Even though the Caribbean is the most vulnerable region in the world when it comes to climate change, we have so many social issues here that the environmental issues are put on the back burner,” says Clarke.

“We have to keep reinforcing [environmental respect] in the communities and, now we’re seeing that people are starting to understand.”

Sandals Foundation is funded by Sandals and Beaches resorts, so clients who stay at the properties and agents who sell them are supporting the cause.

“Just by being a guest, you are helping to make a tremendous difference,” says Clarke. “We want to really engage travellers to learn more about our culture when they’re here, then depart having made a positive impact.”

GETTING BEHIND THE CAUSE

Three more ways agents and clients can give back in the Caribbean through supplier initiatives:

Last year, non-profit group Planeterra completed its mission to support 100 vulnerable communities around the world, with G Adventures now working to incorporate the projects into its tours. One such initiative is Proyecto Manacu near Trinidad, Cuba, a women-led programme that promotes textile art. Travellers on G Adventures’ Cuban Rhythms: Rum and Fun itinerary will pay the women a visit and have the opportunity to purchase their handicrafts (pictured above). gadventures.com
Sister resorts Anse Chastanet and Jade Mountain in Saint Lucia are helping the island’s animals via a partnership with Helpaws (Help Animal Welfare Saint Lucia). Guests can add a Helpaws donation to their room bill, or give cash to support the charity in its work to spay and neuter stray cats and dogs, and rehome them. ansechastanet.com; jademountain.com
Secret Bay, an ultra-luxury, all-villa rainforest retreat on Dominica, is helping to curb an invasion of lionfish that threatens the island’s coral eco-system. Visitors can take the Lionfish Catch and Cook excursion, which sees them join a local fisherman to reel in their catch at sea before returning to the resort to learn how to prepare a sustainable supper ($570 for two). secretbay.dm