Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados will be the guest of honour in Toronto, on March 25, to deliver the keynote address at the Bring On The Spring event that is organised by the Barbados Canadian Foundation (BCF).

The event will be held at St Peter and Paul Banquet Hall, 231 Milner Avenue, Scarborough, and will support people suffering from eye disease in Barbadian. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s Ophthalmology Department, which will perform the procedures, needs slit lamp microscopes, a necessary tool for eye examinations.

BCF President Phil Broome, in conversation with the Caribbean Camera, highlighted the annual event that raises funds to purchase equipment for the Barbadian hospital. The organisers of the annual “Bring On The Spring” event have had a productive partnership with the hospital for some time.

“We have raised $92,000 so far and plan to raise another $60,000 this year to purchase four Slit Lamps which are microscopes that help ophthalmologists diagnose eye disease.”

Broome added, “Last year we raised $40,000 and we bought a Piccolo machine, which is a blood analyzer for their accident and emergency department. They can now analyze blood within 15 minutes. Before that it took them 24-48 hours to analyze blood.”

The event will feature a dinner and entertainment by comedian Jay Martin, singer Jai Symone and The Vibes band. There will be a live auction which will include accommodations donated by several hotels. The Grand prize in a raffle will be two tickets to Barbados, donated by Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.  

The event will be a mix of in-person and virtual attendance due to limited capacity.

The organizers also provide scholarships to students, which will be awarded in a separate event in October.