SOUTH FLORIDA ORGANIZATION DONATES TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN BELIZE

June 05, 2009

A non profit organization out of South Florida is providing students in Belize with prom dresses and shoes. Transforming America through Interaction or TATI Inc.is donating over one hundred dresses and more that fifty shoes to students across the country. Tanya Ragbeer is the President of the organization.

Tanya Ragbeer; President, TATI Inc.

“It is a two year old non profit organization based in South Florida. It was formed out of unfortunate events. I had a daughter, she was 19-years-old when she passed away in a car accident. Out of the grief of having lost my daughter I was able to bring forth this organization with the assistance of friends and through the organization we are living the values and the vision of my daughter; her name was Tatiana. Hence the name TATI which stands for Transforming America Through Interaction. Our vision is to help children and to unite families. We are a Caribbean American organization and it is our goal to bond the Caribbean people within the community as one. This was the vision of my daughter Tatiana. Through the organization we are doing mentorship programs for the kinds and we are giving back to the Caribbean: the communities from which we came. It is our goal to inspire others to do the same and through that we will build better communities and stronger families.”

Belizean Gilda Swasey is also a member of the organization and she along with Kevin Burke Green is accompanied Ragbeer to Belize to distribute the generous donations. 

Tanya Ragbeer; President, TATI Inc.

“I also saw this as an opportunity to give back to the Caribbean; to give back to my country Belize. The reason we are here is we shipped 102 dresses and 72 pairs of shoes to Belize the first week of May. The purpose of that is to give young ladies who otherwise would not have the opportunity to go to their prom. This came out of Tatiana; a lady from Tatiana Bridal donated 72 dresses last year to Jamaica. This year we decided to come to Belize.”

Kevin Burke Green;  TATI Inc.

“I came to Belize about three years ago and fell in love with the country so given the opportunity to come back I went with it. Being a teacher I was able to get supplies. I was able to get supplies; each year we take supplies around the Caribbean so this year we decided to bring it to Belize. It is for elementary schools; book bags, pen, pencils and anything that an elementary school wants. We also have gift bags with little pencils and pens along with a little toy and candy for students.”

Dresses and shoes are still available and interested students can contact Adela Pilgrim at Kiddies campus on Coney Drive or call 203-6303 or 6071466. Students must bring along proper identification and a contact number for the schools principal so that your information can be verified. TATI Inc is also offering a two thousand dollars scholarship for students interested in attending the University of South Florida. Ragbeer tells us more.

Tanya Ragbeer; President, TATI Inc.

“Through TATI Inc. we also provide scholarships. We have an essay competition that we do every year through the Institute of Caribbean Studies and the essay topic was ‘The role of Caribbean Americans in American History’. The quality of the essays we received was phenomenal. It was open to 11 and 12^th grade students and we awarded two cash scholarships this year. We also have hardship scholarships for children who are entering schools in the US and it is open to anybody who is an incoming freshman or softmore. We provide hardship scholarships to US$500 each year. So if there are children here who are going to enter into school this year in the US this year can apply for this scholarship.”

Again the website is www.taticaribbean.com for more information on the essay competition or the scholarship criteria.

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