From left: Tahnida Nunes, Digicel sponsorship manager; Digicel ambassador, Tifa; Digicel ambassador and dancehall artiste Liverpool striker, Daniel Sturridge; and Digicel sponsorship executives, Sandra Ledgister and Benjamin Simms take a photo during the launch of Sturridge's foundation and fun day at the playground for Faith Basic School in Waterford, Portmore, St Catherine last Saturday. - Anthony Minott/Freelance Photographer
Daniel Sturridge is known in football circles as an English player and now dons the colours of Liverpool Football Club. However, not many persons would have known that the speedy forward had his roots planted in Jamaica as both grandparents are Jamaican.
Recently, Sturridge finally fulfilled his dream of giving back to Jamaica by launching his foundation in Portmore. The launch, which took the form of a massive family fun day was at the Faith Basic School in Waterford, Portmore, St Catherine.
"As a leading supporter of sports in Jamaica and the region, Digicel was therefore invited to come on board as a lead sponsor of this venture," said Tahnida Nunes, sponsorship manager at Digicel. She added: "Digicel is very happy to be on board with Daniel Sturridge and his family on this venture for a number of reasons. For one, giving back to our communities and helping them grow and develop is a huge part of our ethos at Digicel and we continue to do this through our Foundation across Jamaica."
enrichment centres
She added: "Second, through the Digicel Foundation, we have done extensive work in Portmore where we have either opened enrichment centres or multipurpose courts for community centres. Now we are very happy to be continuing our work in Portmore through this initiative as well as to make a donation to the Faith Basic School in the amount of J$500,000. It's a great day, the turnout is amazing and we're very excited to be here."
In the meantime, a very passionate Daniel Sturridge said "Our family has strong links in Jamaica with both my grandparents being Jamaican, so it is great to be able to give back to the local community. We hope that The Sturridge Family Foundation Sports Day will encourage local youngsters to play sport. This is the first activity for our Foundation in Jamaica and we aim to build on this in the future," said Sturridge.
"My granddad and family are all here helping out at the event and we are all very happy with what we're seeing today. We are also very grateful to Digicel for their support and encouragement which has enabled the tournament to happen."
The day's activities kicked off at 10 a.m. and included football, basketball and netball tournaments, in addition to activities for the entire family ranging from face painting, bounce-a-bout as well as entertainment by Ice Box, Hot Brain and Digicel ambassador Tifa.