Paralympics Association embarks on ‘aggressive’ fund-raising campaign
THE Jamaica Paralympics Association will be aggressively looking to raise funds ahead of a busy 2015 schedule which includes two major championships.
Christopher Samuda, the president of the local association, said the Parapan American Games in Toronto, Canada next August and the 2015 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics World Championships to be held in Doha, Qatar in October are high on the agenda.
“Toronto is going to be in August and the World Championships will be in October; two tremendous expenses on our books and we’ll be going out aggressively for the support,” Samuda said on Friday during the unveiling of the symbolic Cauldron Petal at the Norman Manley International Airport.
“We need funding and we, thank God, have survived under the benevolence of individual persons and companies. We salute the generosity, but that is not enough.”
Samuda, who is also secretary general of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA), said the aim is to establish medium- to long-term partnerships with entities which can provide sufficient financial backing.
That, he explained, will allow the Paralympic Association to better prepare budgets, particularly ahead of seasons when there will be major championships.
“We need to get the sponsors onboard in a sustained way, not just simply supporting events, but supporting development programmes. We are hoping to tie down sponsorships of three, four, five years so that we know that our budget can be caste with some certainty, fully knowing that inflows will be coming to support the various programmes that we have,” said Samuda.
Paralympic sports is competed among athletes with physical disabilities. Under the governance of the IPC, paralympic athletes have competed at international events since 1952. Athletics has been a sport at the Summer Paralympics Games since 1960. The most recent Paralympic Games was in London 2012. The previous IPC World Championships was hosted in Lyon, France, last year.
Some of Jamaica’s more prominent paralympic athletes are Sylvia Grant, Alphanso Cunningham and Tanto Campbell.
— Sanjay Myers
