GlobalMedic & Sunwing volunteers pack aid for Cuba

MONTREAL, Sept. 21, 2017 /CNW/ - Hurricane Irma is the strongest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, with wind speeds of up to 300km/h recorded.  On September 8^th Irma made landfall in Cuba, causing significant damage to the Cayos that lie off the northern coastline. Many local people are still without power and many are yet to be able to return to their homes that were damaged during the storm.

On Friday, September 22, 2017, GlobalMedic and Sunwing volunteers and staff will be packing family hygiene kits. The kits are for people affected by the storm. These will include items such as water purification tablets, toothpaste and toothbrushes and soap and are intended to keep a family clean and healthy. The kit is designed to ensure a family has access to clean drinking water for 3 months.

The first consignment of aid packed will be carried on a Sunwing flight on Saturday September 23^rd departing from Montreal to Varadero, Cuba.

The event tomorrow is one of a series of collaborations that has taken place since Irma first made landfall. It is also the first initiative that has taken place at the company's Montreal offices.

On Sunday, September 10, Sunwing flew our Rapid Response Team – consisting of two firefighters, one paramedic and an engineer from Aeryon Labs – to St. Maarten with a drone, 756 Hygiene Kits, 200 Family Emergency Kits and two AquaResponse3 Water Purification Systems capable of providing clean drinking water to 2,000 people per day. The team has been working with local authorities to coordinate distributions and also provide aerial imagery to assist with the damage assessment. We also sent a team to Antigua and Barbuda last week on a special Sunwing Airlines humanitarian flight who is working with the authorities to help Barbuda with the rebuilding process.

Media is invited to attend the packing event. GlobalMedic and Sunwing staff and volunteers will be available for interviews. Please use the contact information below.

About GlobalMedic
GlobalMedic is a registered Canadian charity that runs capacity building programs and provides disaster relief services to large-scale catastrophes around the world.

GlobalMedic has responded to 181 disasters in 63 countries, including earthquakes in Ecuador, Haiti, Japan and Nepal; tsunamis in Japan and Sri Lanka; typhoons in the Philippines and Taiwan; hurricanes in Grenada and Guatemala; cyclones in India, Myanmar and Vanuatu; floods in Bangladesh, Mexico and Pakistan; drought and famine in Kenya and Mauritania; epidemics in Liberia and Sierra Leone; and complex emergencies in Gaza, Iraq, Mali, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.

GlobalMedic has been using innovative UAV technology to save lives since 2014. UAVs helped us respond to Typhoon Hagupit in the Philippines, the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, the 2016 earthquake in Ecuador, and the 2017 landslides in Colombia. Imagery captured by our UAVs identified the most vulnerable and affected communities, allowing our teams to deliver aid where it was needed most. Through these responses, GlobalMedic is emerging as a leader in the operation of UAVs in disaster zones.

About Sunwing Foundation
A charitable initiative established by the Hunter family, the Sunwing Foundation reflects the Sunwing Travel Group's enduring commitment to the support and development of youth in the communities where it operates in the form of project funding or the transport of humanitarian aid. The Sunwing Foundation takes no administration fees and matches on 100% of the charitable donations it raises through the airline's spare change program to the communities that need it the most, funding educational and skills development projects to provide a direct, impactful, and sustainable improvement to quality of life for years to come.   Since its inception in 2015, the Sunwing Foundation has provided assistance to a number of community projects, most notably wholly funding the construction of the Spicy Hill Early Childhood Institution in Trelawny, Jamaica.

www.globalmedic.ca

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Date & Time
Friday, September 22, 2017
7:00am-9:00am

Location
Sunwing
7785 Côte de Liesse west
Saint-Laurent, Québec, H4T 1G3

SOURCE Sunwing Vacations Inc.