The good deeds of five Barbadians have earned them high praise as well as $1,000 in cash, as part of the National Peace Program’s new Gaining Stripes Initiative.
Minister of State in the Office of the Attorney General with responsibility for Crime Prevention, Corey Lane, yesterday launched the initiative, which was supported by several local businesses, at the Office of the Attorney General.
He explained that it seeks to promote the exceptional work, tasks or deeds of citizens of Barbados and was conceptualised to act as a counter to “a lot of negativity in society”.
“And negativity breeds negativity, so we thought it important to highlight, in a major way, those who are making a significant contribution to our country and make sure that we salute them as well. When negative things happen, there is punishment and when positive things happen we think, equally, that they should be rewarded,” Minister Lane stated.
He pointed out that one of the other objectives of the initiative was to inspire the youth, and the entire country, to follow suit so they could gain “stripes” by performing positive or good deeds.
The first recipients of the initiative are Janelle Inniss, who assisted a pregnant woman who went into labour on the streets of Bridgetown in June this year, and safely delivered the baby; Karen Hutson, who intervened and parted a fight involving a group of school children; two customs officers, who discovered a shipment of guns, which otherwise could have made their way onto the streets of Barbados; and Cameron Edwards, who returned a substantial sum of money to its rightful owner in December last year.
The Crime Prevention Minister also praised the businesses which came on board to support the Gaining Stripes Initiative and the crime prevention effort on a whole. They provided the monetary incentives to the first set of recipients.
They are: Barbados Light & Power Company Ltd.; C.O. Williams and Company Ltd.; the TAW Group of Companies; and Abeds & Co. Ltd.
Minister Lane said he was “proud” to grant these individuals their “stripes”, by letting the country know what they had done and rewarding them from a tangible standpoint with $1,000 in cash.
“Everybody knows that around this season an extra $1,000 is something to smile about. I am exceedingly happy to be able to launch this programme today,” he stated.