‘I wish you well’: NCB gives $6 million in donations for its Grant A Wish programme

WHILE MILLIONS of people were on Facebook in December liking family photos, sharing Christmas greetings, and commenting on 2018 memories, hundreds of Jamaicans were busy using the social-media website to send nominations and vote for their friends, colleagues, students, family members and community heroes during NCB’s Grant A Wish promotion.

With an expected total spend of $6 million, the National Commercial Bank (NCB) has already begun granting the wishes of more than 40 persons and their families, allowing them to start the new year on a positive and hopeful note, with donations of up to $200,000, courtesy of its annual Christmas promotion.

The December 2018 initiative called on Jamaicans to nominate individuals or organisations they believed were in need of help in one way or another. Under the theme ‘Wishing Well’, NCB prompted Jamaicans to submit short videos or images on its social-media pages nominating those whom they felt needed assistance in the areas of education, community service, personal welfare, public service and health. A detailed description of the person’s need accompanied the photo or video, as well as the name of the nominee and the words ‘I Wish You Well’, in keeping with the theme.

Stories of survival, overcoming adversity and wanting a better future blanketed the Facebook page as droves of Jamaicans tossed their votes into the ‘wishing well’. After hundreds of entries and almost 30,000 ‘likes, shares and comments’ on social media, the nation voted and NCB selected the top nominees.

“We are so impressed by how quickly Jamaicans moved to assist us in giving aid to persons,” says Nadeen Matthews, NCB Foundation CEO. “This initiative is dear to the NCB Financial Group, and by extension the foundation. We recognise that as the nation’s financial partner of choice, we are not just expected to put the lives of our customers forward, but undoubtedly the lives of every citizen of this country.

“With that in mind, we are quite honoured to have been able to touch the lives of so many individuals, especially young ones, and look forward to continuing this spirit of giving throughout the rest of the year,” she says. “We urge more Jamaicans to come on board with us, keep standing behind initiatives like these, which empower people, bolster their families and the community at large,” she adds.

NCB’s Grant A Wish is one of its signature charitable endeavours, backed by support from all its subsidiaries, including the NCB Foundation which, since its inception in 2013, has donated more than $1.5 billion to charitable causes islandwide.