About

During a visit to Barbados during early April 2006, two business men (Marianne White and Isom Miller) were invited by chance to visit one of that cities many orphanages. It was immediately clear to them that there was a severe shortage of funding. Many of the buildings were in a very poor condition and the shortage of money was causing considerable hardship for many of the children.

During their first visit to Barbados , they also visited a children’s wing at a hospital.
A number of babies were found waiting for surgery. Although surgeons had volunteered their time to conduct operations there was no funding to pay for medicine and aftercare. Miller provided this. This baby was typical of those waiting for surgery. Without assistance it is unlikely this, or the other babies discovered at this unit would have survived.

To give the charity an initial boost, founder Isom Miller has agreed to donate $2,000,000 of his own money. This money will be released to the charity in the United Kingdom provided that ‘match’ funding can be found from within Barbados by the Supervisory Board of the Barbados charity.

For each $1 that Isom Miller donates, match funding of $1 must be found from Barbados Industry and Commerce. This in turn must be ‘matched’ by the Barbados government to give a total of $4 to spend on the children for every $1 Miller donates.

Agreed funding may take the form of cash, labour, materials supplied or construction. The joint funding initiative is integral to the success of both charities. The principle of joint funding ensures that money is resourced from both the government and industry as well as from the UK and other countries.