Responsibility

In 2006 the Manatees Youth Football Program was established with the following objectives:

• To provide all children living in British Virgin Islands the opportunity to develop their football within a caring, safe and fun environment.
• To provide dedicated, trained and qualified coaching and administrative support to share their skills, knowledge and passion for the game of football.
• To provide Saturday morning training sessions at no cost enabling the entire community to participate.
• To provide kids that demonstrate the commitment and dedication required to develop their football skills the opportunity to travel outside the BVI to play in international tournaments (and where required, provide and/or seek out necessary funding).

The Saturday Manatees Youth Football Program routinely sees between 60 and 80 kids (aged 3 to 17) from all over Tortola enjoying and learning the beautiful game. Training sessions are also offered as an afterschool club at Cedar International School on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (soccer sisters). Giving back also includes coaching/organizing teams that participate in school and club leagues and also international tournaments (Bahamas, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, USVI and Florida).

Football was chosen early on by Walter Reich “because it is a sport that sees kids get out of the house, gets them moving, developing coordination and getting fit. All that is needed is a flat piece of land and a ball. So many life skills are taught along the journey including learning how to work together, how to be disciplined, how to communicate effectively, the sacrifice required to achieve personal and collective goals, grit, leadership etc”.

In addition to football, another shared passion is Cedar International School (www.cedar.vg) which is a not-for-profit International Baccalaureate (IB) School (www.ibo.org)  based in the BVI offering children of the territory an opportunity to receive an education that is recognized across the world.   Cedar’s learning community is richly diverse, with students, teachers, and staff representing more than 40 nationalities. As Nelson Mandela once said – “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to the change the world”.  As an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, Cedar delivers an internationally-accredited, highly-regarded education focused on student inquiry and leading to the development of critical skills: how to problem solve, how to think critically, how to find information and evaluate its credibility, how to ask the right questions, how to be an independent learner and how to collaborate with others effectively.  These are the skills that will prepare our students for life beyond school for a world that is moving at an unbelievable exponential pace. One just has to have a look at this video to understand how quick the changes are happening –  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmwwrGV_aiE&feature=emb_title  Besides giving of our time on various committees and initiatives, Tovel also sponsors an annual scholarship that is provided to a student who is passionate about football, has good academic grades and who otherwise might not be able to attend Cedar.

Recent fundraising efforts were rewarded with the much needed multi-purpose pitch at Cedar with the old pitch heavily damaged during Hurricane Irma. https://cedar.vg/2021/08/30/cedar-celebrates-the-completion-of-new-pitch/ . Tovel was also involved with the raising of money for a set of steelpans from Trinidad so that students and community at large can learn to play the sweet sounds of steelpan which have become synonymous with the Caribbean. The steelpan addition to the music program has been such a success with the school/community that the school has made the decision to expand the music room while creating a performance area. Tovel has already committed to assist in the fundraising of this much needed initiative. Tovel is not only proud to lead some of these important initiatives but also humbled by the generosity shown by some of its clients who also want to give back to the BVI where their company is domiciled. This was especially evident with the rebuild after Hurricane Irma, the pitch renovation and now the music room expansion.

Other Tovel donations to various BVI based programs and organizations that are in need are considered on a case by case basis.