The Voice season five winner Tessanne Chin and Jamaican reggae artist Jimmy Cliff among honourees for The University of the West Indies Fifth Annual Toronto Benefit Gala Saturday, March 29, 2014

TORONTO, Dec. 23, 2013 /CNW/ - The University of the West Indies today announced that Tessanne Chin, NBC's The Voice's season five winner, and internationally acclaimed Jamaican reggae artist Jimmy Cliff are among leaders of Caribbean and Canadian heritage who will be honoured at the fifth annual Toronto Benefit Gala, on Saturday, March 29, 2014 at The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto.

The Patron of the event is The Honourable G. Raymond Chang, OJ, Canadian Jamaican business leader and philanthropist. For the fifth consecutive year Scotiabank is again Lead Sponsor. The Host is noted Jamaican broadcaster and media manager Michael Anthony Cuffe Sr.

Awards will be presented in three categories and include:

Luminary :

• The Honourable Dr. Hedy Fry, P.C., M.P.
• Dr. the Honourable Jimmy Cliff, OM
• Tessanne Chin

Chancellor's Award - The Hospital for Sick Children

Vice Chancellor's Award:

• Mr. David Taylor, community leader, entrepreneur and philanthropist
• The Right Revered Peter DeCourcy Fenty, Bishop of York Simcoe and the first Black Bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada, ordained in June 2013
• Dr. Anna Jarvis, UWI alumnus, Staff Physician, Paediatric Emergency Medicine and University of Toronto Professor, Department of Paediatrics
• Mr. Roger Mooking, celebrity chef, television host, cookbook author and award winning recording artist
• Ms. Delores Lawrence, founder; President, & CEO of NHI Nursing & Homemakers Inc., community leader and philanthropist

Under the theme Light, Learning and Liberty, the UWI Toronto Benefit Gala raises funds for scholarships for outstanding academic achievers in the Caribbean, who are in great need of assistance.  Since the inaugural gala four years ago, just under 150 scholarships have been awarded.

The event includes a robust silent and live auction, conducted by Mr. Gordon Cressy, head of George Brown Foundation and friend of the Caribbean.

Past honorees of The University of the West Indies Gala include: retired boxer and undisputed world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, Dr. Budhendranauth Doobay, The Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto faculty member Dr. Upton Allen, former MPP and retired Scotiabank executive Mary Anne Chambers, Toronto architect and University of Toronto faculty member Brigitte Shim, award winning author Malcolm Gladwell, Dr. The Honourable Harry Belafonte; The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Former Deputy Chief of Toronto police Mr. Keith L. Forde, Mr. David Rudder; Dr.The Hon. Michael Lee-Chin OJ, Olympian Mr. Donovan Bailey, leading professor of medicine Dr. Herbert Ho Ping Kong, Ryerson University and the University Health Network. 

For tickets please order using the online form at www.uwitorontogala.com, or by calling 416-214-7848 or by emailing [email protected].

The University of the West Indies was established in 1948 as a College of the University of London. It achieved full university status in 1962. Today it is the only pan-Caribbean tertiary level institution offering a wide array of diverse and accredited programmes to 45,000 students throughout the region, with campuses in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Anguilla, Antigua, The Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Turks and Caicos.

SOURCE: University of West Indies Benefit Gala

For further information:

For media information:
Ciarlo Communications
Tel: [phone]
Cell: 416-458-5090
Email: [email protected]