Sponsorship cheques totalling $1.83 million were handed over to 18 local educational institutions to send teams to the Penn Relays scheduled for April 28 – 30 at the University of Pennsylvania by telecommunications company LIME.
At a function held at the Wyndham Hotel in New Kingston, LIME presented cheques valued at $100,000 to each of the benefiting schools. In addition, all members of the travelling contingents will be able to ‘phone home’ as LIME gave “Jus Talk” calling cards to each athlete, coach and administrator attending the meet, representing a value of $30,000. The telecom company also contributed to $688,000 to Team Jamaica Bickle, an organisation that will be providing meals and transportation for the Jamaican athletes in Pennsylvania. This brings LIME total contribution to just over $2.5 million.
This year’s sponsorship marks the continuation of a time-honoured tradition for the telecom company which has provided sponsorship to send local school teams to the relay carnival for the last 19 years.
Chairman of the LIME Foundation, Errol K. Miller, said: “It is always a pleasure for us at LIME to help our high schools and colleges to send teams to the Penn Relays where our young athletes can get the kind of experience and exposure that will prepare them to compete on the international stage.”
“LIME has been providing this sponsorship to educational institutions for the last 19 years and we are proud of the roll that we are playing in shaping the next generation of great Jamaican athletes,” he added.
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The Penn Relays sponsorship follows closely on LIME’s $8 million allocation to the Inter-Secondary Schools Association for the staging of the 2011 Boys and Girls’ Athletics Champion-ships. Also, today’s presentation was made just ahead of the 2011 LIME CARIFTA Games which begins at the Montego Bay Sports Complex in Catherine Hall, St James, this weekend. LIME recently signed a $36 million agreement with the North America, Central America & Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) to be the games’ title sponsor for the next two years.
In addition, in 2010 LIME signed a three-year sponsorship deal with the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) under which Jamaica’s junior athletic programme will receive $7 million on a yearly basis.
The teams receiving sponsorship from LIME this year are:
Calabar High School, Camperdown High School, Convent of Mercy Academy “Alpha”, Edwin Allen High School, GC Foster College, Herbert Morrison Technical High School, Holmwood Technical High School, Jamaica College, Kingston College, Munro College, Old Harbour High School, St George’s College, St. Jago High School, The Queen’s School, University of Technology (UTech), Vere Technical High School, Wolmer’s Boys’ School and Wolmer’s Girls School.
