Bank of The Bahamas Limited (“BOB”) recently held a “Back- to-School” drive to assist local schools and organizations in need of supplies for the start of the new school year.

The “Fill-a-Box” back-to- school initiative originated as an internal volunteer initiative by employees who were concerned about families being unable to provide basic school supplies for their children.  Staff throughout New Providence filled boxes with school supplies such as backpacks, pencils, pens, rulers, lunch boxes and books to ensure that as many children as possible can go back to school with a smile on their face.

 “We are not surprised by the hearts of our staff.  Our staff consists of parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles - individuals who care about their communities so we have thrown our full support behind our employees.  We applaud the diverse contributions our staff members continue to make collectively and individually within the communities we serve which we have highlighted in our recently launched ‘Who we are’ campaign”, said management of this initiative. 

 To encourage staff efforts, management challenged branch staff to a “Decorate the Box” competition using back-to-school as the central theme.  As an incentive the winning branch would receive a special celebratory reward and their creatively decorated box would feature in the “Who we are” back-to-school newspaper advertisement inviting participation from the wider community. 

“We recognize this as an opportunity to raise awareness.   For this reason, the “Fill- a-Box” back to school initiative was opened to the public.  We are grateful to our loyal customers and other partners who have matched the donations of our staff.  Through a combined community effort we have not only succeeded in our goal to provide supplies for the less fortunate but also in bringing people together to make a difference”, management explained.

 Representatives from Sandilands Primary, Elizabeth Estates Children’s Home and The Bahamas Children’s Emergency Hostel all expressed their appreciation to the bank for the school supplies, especially the much needed composition books.  “This year our focus is on literacy and improving writing skills therefore the supply of composition books is essential”, said Ms. Ester Cartwright, principal, Sandilands Primary school.

Bank of The Bahamas is a proud supporter of worthy causes, established organizations, bona fide charities and numerous efforts that define and help grow our local communities throughout the nation. To learn more about BOB charitable donations and volunteer initiatives visit bankbahamas.com.