German sports goods manufacturer Adidas continues to make its mark at the local grassroots level, adding footwear support to recent relief efforts and team sponsorships in what representative Cubie Seegobin has described as a show of commitment.

On March 14, Adidas donated $7.5 million in relief funds to several schools impacted by Hurricane Melissa.

The presentation, which was made at the GC Foster Classic, saw cheques being presented to Herbert Morrison Technical, Lacovia High, Manchester High, Alphansos Davis, Petersfield High, Rusea’s High, Black River High, Holmwood Technical and Munro College. The donation is expected to rise to $10 million with a number of other schools also being identified for support.

The donation forms part of a wider effort by the global brand, which has also extended its support to the provision of footwear to several schools including St George’s College, Lacovia High and Convent of Mercy (Alpha) Academy.

“This is just a continuation of the $7.5 million that we gave out two weeks ago at the GC Foster Classic,” said Seegobin.

“We just looked at the schools that suffered significant damages. These are schools that suffered major damages and had some connection to Adidas — the exception to the rule was Black River, which was really destroyed so we decided to donate some money to them,” added Seegobin.

The support also includes the brand’s 20-20 programme, which sees spikes and training footwear being donated to schools, who in turn purchase other gears directly from the company.

“St George’s College bought their textiles but we do give them footwear. They are in our 20-20 programme, which means they get 20 pairs of spikes, 20 pairs of training shoes but they bought their other stuff. Alpha bought their stuff too — a lot of schools are going out and buying Adidas textiles because they are in the 20-20 footwear programme — it was where Immaculate started out, too,” Seegobin shared.

Many-time girls’ champions Holmwood Technical and Corporate Area champions Immaculate are the two flagship high school programmes that benefit from full Adidas sponsorship.

“We are just helping as many as we can. We assisted quite a few schools recently and we are looking to maybe assist a couple more who need it,” he added.

In addition to the damaged high schools, Adidas also made recent contributions to the Olympians Association of Jamaica as well as St Elizabeth Technical.