St. George's, Grenada, January 19th, 2010: Prime Minister Tillman Thomas has described the response of his countrymen to Monday night’s Grenada-Haiti Mediathon as “overwhelming”. The programme, a collaborative effort of several media organisations, received pledges of over ECD 562,000 for the Government of Grenada Haiti Relief Fund. 

“I am very pleased with the response of the Grenadian people to this effort. These funds will go to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) to help with the immediate needs of our brothers and sisters in Haiti,” the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister Thomas was high in praise for students, especially those in day care centers and pre-primary schools, who contributed more than ECD 14,000 to the Haiti relief effort.

He suggested that persons who did not have the opportunity to contribute during the programme can still do so by making deposits to the Government of Grenada Haiti Relief Fund, account number 121003657 at the Grenada Cooperative Bank.

Richard Simon, Press Secretary to the Prime Minister, also praised the collaboration among media operators and two telecommunications companies, which teamed up to undertake a national response to the Prime Minister’s request for a national media-thon.

“Without the participation and involvement of the media, Flow Grenada and Lime, our efforts would not have been as successful as it was. This is a historic event and we hope it will mark a new interest of collaboration by the Grenadian media in supporting national events,” He said.

The Grenada Haiti Mediathon received pledges from individuals, organisations, state companies, the private sector and the Grenada government, which made the first initial pledge of ECD 100,000 to the fund.