Tamarind by Elegant Hotels has taken a colourful step forward to celebrate and support persons, especially children, living with Down Syndrome in Barbados.
For the first time locally, persons with Down Syndrome were able to gather together and share the same space on World Down Syndrome Day with one goal – to have fun.
President of the Barbados Down Syndrome Association Asha Alleyne-Renwick told Loop News:
“I really want to thank the management and staff of Tamarind Hotel for a wonderful wrap-up to World Down Syndrome Day 2024. It was so amazing to have all of our members together. We even actually happened to attract some new members, well they are members now after such an amazing evening. It was lovely! This is the first World Down Syndrome Day that we were able to be hosted and come together as a group. It was just lovely.”
Hoping to “build on this relationship in the future”, Alleyne-Renwick’s thoughts were in line with the management of Tamarind by Elegant Hotels.
General Manager of Tamarind by Elegant Hotels Sophia Babb was very happy and she too deemed the evening of activities, frolic, food and treats for the special guests “a successful day”.
Asked about the motivation behind the inaugural event at the West coast located hotel, Babb said, “Partnering with Asha, the President of the Down Syndrome Association, was important for us because it gave them the opportunity to come into a space and be themselves on the day we are celebrating them.”
Babb said that the team was “so pleased” to make this entertaining evening a reality. She said, it was a first time experience for some of the children and a first for the hotel as well. “But we thought it was important for us as hospitality providers to do that for them on this day. This brought such joy to us today to do this for them.”
Looking at the students with their face paintings – some transformed into Spiderman, others into princesses or showcasing butterflies on their faces – she said, “We can see they enjoyed it. They enjoyed the food. The chefs enjoyed preparing it for them and the team enjoyed serving them. It was a combination of all departments putting this on – from the Kids Club to the restaurant to housekeeping to our Operations Manager, myself as General Manager, even HR got involved. So everyone was involved in this initiative.”
And she asserted that this is just one more way in which Tamarind “does what we do, give back to our community.”
Asked what is next for this event, without hesitation Babb assured, “Only but bigger from here to ensure that our community understands that hospitality is also for our locals and to come and enjoy what we have here… We do different take care and give back initiatives as part of Tamarind and part of the Elegant portfolio.”
Operations Manager Antonia Hinds said that the evening of fun catered to some 35 children and their guardians. The hotel also orchestrated transportation for one group from the Sarah Ann Gill Centre who were experiencing challenges getting to the venue.
Watching as the guests departed as the sun set on March 21, Hinds too said that after this year’s event with jumping tent and more, “Yes, definitely, we would want to look to do this annually.”
