Written by Azaleta Ishmael-Newry
With the recent win of two Olympic gold medals for The Bahamas by Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Steven Gardiner for their individual 400 m races, we can keep the positive vibes going by turning attention to Character Day Bahamas Hidden Heroes 2021.
Launching on August 12, 2021, at www.characterdaybahamas.org, this year’s theme is “Be the Reason” with the goal to celebrate the people who make us feel welcomed, seen, heard, valued, loved, and supported. Character Day Bahamas created a video to promote the call for entries which can been seen at – https://vimeo.com/585404810/450e77a5dd.
Do you know a Hidden Hero? Participants have until September 30, 2021, to acknowledge and celebrate their candidate. The person being nominated cannot be a public figure and should be an everyday citizen who goes that extra mile or makes a difference in their community, and who consistently shows their character strengths by their actions, words, or deeds.
PACE Foundation’s president Sonia Brown shares, “We are all unique and possess varying degrees of character strengths which are considered the things we do when no one is looking. There are 24 character strengths that fall under six virtue categories which are universal across cultures and nationalities. We have supplied a reference chart to help the participants select and state the character strengths their nominee possesses, and they need to let us know why their candidate should be considered a Hidden Hero.” That chart is available at www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths.
The past two years have been difficult ones that began with Hurricane Dorian and then came the pandemic which is still a challenge. So many people have showed courage, resilience and creativity like having to pivot from job loss to opening a new business or being their brother’s keeper. For a small country, there continues to be loss, illness, and hunger caused by COVID-19. At the forefront were essential workers, front line workers and volunteers serving their communities and catering to the needs of our country. There are many people from all walks of life who can be considered role models for good character and are everyday citizens living in The Bahamas.
Character Day will be observed on October 20, 2021. The Character Day t-shirt competition was held in June and in August, training workshops are being held virtually for the human resources and education sectors.
Character Day Bahamas is led by the PACE Foundation and is sponsored by the Templeton World Charity Foundation Inc. which offers the opportunity for t-shirts and other resources to be distributed free of charge to the schools and youth organizations participating in the program. More information on Character Day, their programs and the Hidden Hero campaign including information on how to apply for a grant are available at http://www.characterdaybahamas.org or one can email – characterdaybahamas242@gmail.com.
PACE (Providing Access To Continued Education) Foundation is a non-profit that supports the work of the PACE Programme, a special school for teenage mothers. They firmly believe that everyone deserves a second chance and have had the privilege of giving second chances to teenage mothers for the past fifty years. More information can be found at http://www.pacebahamas.com.
