Community Notice: Maples Group Client Donations Support LIFE and The Pines

The Maples Group is pleased to continue its enhanced community support in response to the ongoing challenges presented by COVID-19. The Group recently made donations on behalf of its clients to local not-for-profit organisations Literacy Is For Everyone ("LIFE") and The Pines Retirement Home ("The Pines"). These donations follow the Group's recent donation of over US$135,000 to a number of local organisations supporting the community at this time. All of this is in addition to the Group's ongoing charitable donations (made through the Maples Foundation to a wide range of not-for-profit organisations in the Cayman Islands) and the Group's focus on promoting education in the Cayman Islands with its significant annual legal and non-legal scholarship awards.

LIFE, an independent charitable organisation committed to improving the education and literacy of over 2,700 primary school children in the Cayman Islands, received a donation of US$25,000 that will go towards hiring a second employee. The new team member will support the expansion of LIFE's programmes, which have become increasingly important in the recent home-schooling environment, including online classes and resources designed to help parents engage in their child's literacy.

"We are grateful for this donation which allows us to add a second staff member for the first time in our eight year history. This will help to manage over 150 volunteers and enable us to expand our programmes in response to the global pandemic's impact on students in the Cayman Islands," said Marilyn Conolly, Executive Director of LIFE.

As the elderly in our community are particularly vulnerable at this time, the Group also made a separate contribution of over US$67,000 to The Pines to support the renovation of their assisted living care villas. These villas provide a level of independence to those who may not need 24/7 care and are usually offered to those prior to enrolling in The Pines as fulltime residents. Constructed in 1990, the buildings are now in need of modernisation and improvements to make the facilities more accessible. In addition to giving the villas an overall facelift, the funds will also be used to install handrails and ramps in key areas such as at villa entrances and exits for those with limited mobility.

"As a lifelong sponsor of The Pines, we are always amazed by the Maples Group's continued support of our efforts," said Lynda Mitchell, Manager of The Pines. "Their contributions sincerely make a difference for us, and we are forever enormously grateful. We look forward to the launch of this much needed project."

Commenting on the Group's latest philanthropic efforts, Scott Somerville, CEO of the fiduciary, fund, regulatory and compliance, and entity formation and management services businesses of the Maples Group, said:

"Young children and the elderly are undoubtedly two of the demographics most affected by the social impacts of COVID-19. We are proud to support LIFE and The Pines and hope these donations will help their staff and volunteers to continue their essential work during this unprecedented time. We take our role as a corporate citizen seriously and remain committed to inspiring change and promoting positive development through our support of these and other organisations in the local community."