Four charities in Anguilla have benefited from the proceeds of the Jimmy Buffet concert that was held in March at the Dune Preserve. The cheques totaling US$75,000.00 were handed over on Wednesday August 8 to the Stingray Music Programme, the Anguilla Tennis Academy (ATA), the Anguilla Community Foundation (ACF) and the Bob and Melinda Blanchard charity.

Photo shows in the back row organizers Bankie Banx, Thomas McInerney and Olaide Banks and in the front row the recipients, Bonnie Richardson-Lake, Mitchelle Lake and Ijahnya Christian.

The presentation was held at the Meads Bay Villa Resort and details of the concert were given. Olaide Banks, the Director of Marketing Production for the event, reported that over 3500 tickets were sold, the Dune Preserve was enlarged and remodeled to cater for 4,000 people and proved to be a perfect location for the concert. Bankie Banx was the Artistic and Creative Director and involved in all the details of the expansion.

Olaide reported that the impact of the event on Anguilla’s economy was sizeable with hotels, ferries, restaurants, taxis and more, all benefiting. In addition some 150 Anguillians were employed on the day of the concert and in the preparations beforehand. He said a DVD of the Anguilla concert is to be released at the end of October and this will have a considerable impact on tourism too.

Thomas McInerney, Director of Operations and Finance, expressed thanks to the many sponsors who made the show possible. He particularly thanked the Government of Anguilla and the Anguilla Tourist Board for the part they played and CuisinArt Resort who hosted the main team. He also thanked the Blanchards for the Friday evening auction event, Matt & Monica Trimble for all their work, and Mitch Harrigan for the security. Other sponsors and persons mentioned included Cable and Wireless, National Bank of Anguilla, Safe Cargo, Yanchie Richardson and Meads Bay Villa Resorts.
The cheques were accepted by Ijahnya Christian for Stingray, Mitchelle Lake for the ATA and Bonnie Richardson-Lake for the ACF and each expressed thanks on behalf of their organization. Also attending the event were the Minister of Tourism, Hon Victor Banks, Tourism Adviser Hon Donna Banks, Director of Tourism Amelia Vanterpool-Kubisch, Executive Director of the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association, (Trudy Nixon) and other tourism officials along with representatives from the benefiting charities.

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