(CNS Business): Island Heritage has donated $30,000 to three local charities as a result of their first annual CharityDrive, which combined support for three worthy organisations with publicity for their adopted roundabout on the Esterley-Tibbetts Highway near the Ritz-Carlton hotel. The company promised to donate $1 to a chosen charity for every car that drove past the roundabout, recorded by the National Roads Authority traffic sensor counters, on 24, 25 and 26 April, up to $10,000 per day. In addition to driving past the Roundabout, the public could visit the Island Heritage Facebook page and click a support link or mention @charitydriveky on Twitter, which also triggered another dollar donation by Island Heritage. The result was a $10k donation to the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme (BIRP), Meals on Wheels Cayman Islands and the Cayman Islands Humane Society.

Each charity provided a team of enthusiastic volunteers who were stationed at various entry points to the Esterly Tibbetts Highway to direct Cayman drivers toward the Island Heritage roundabout.

On day one, supporters were greeted by a volunteer in a blue iguana suit as they passed the Roundabout and by 7pm the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme had reached its $10,000 goal.

“This funding comes at an ideal time as we can match it with some other corporate donations and it will enable us to move forward on several fronts now,” said BIRP Director Fred Burton. “There’s a good buzz going around about this event. It was really well designed and I love that it offered ways for so many people to feel involved.”

Day two saw a buzz on the road and on the web with Caymanian celebrity Selita Ebanks tweeting and encouraging her twitter followers to support Meals on Wheels, which also reached its $10,000 goal by the end of the day.

“Our organization will forever by grateful to Island Heritage and its staff for the incredible job they did by getting the whole island involved to support the seniors we feed with Meals on Wheels,” said Beulah McField, co-founder and Director of Meals on Wheels Cayman Islands.

For the final day of CharityDrive, Humane Society volunteers brought some of the shelter’s residents to the Island Heritage Roundabout to remind them where the funds were going. With the support of the Cayman public, the Humane Society was also able to meet its $10,000 goal.

“The Cayman Islands Humane Society is delighted to have been chosen as one of the three charities to participate in the first annual Island Heritage Charity Drive. This was a wonderful opportunity to elevate the community’s awareness of the three charities and the work we do,” said Carolyn Parker, Humane Society spokesperson. “The ‘Drive’ was very exciting as we organized our volunteers to participate and raise funds for the animals. We sincerely appreciate the support of Island Heritage – allowing us to continue our work of helping homeless animals and finding new homes for them.”

Island Heritage said the campaign was a huge success and exceeded expectations. “Island Heritage, its employees and customers are proud to have staged this fun and innovative way to raise money for charity in the Cayman Islands. Using social media as a component of the fundraiser proved a powerful way to raise awareness for the charities while raising funds,” said Garth MacDonald, CEO of Island Heritage, after the event. “When we ‘adopted’ the roundabout in 2010, we did so with the intent to give back to the community, and our 2012 CharityDrive builds on that. Giving the overwhelming success of this year’s event, we are already planning and looking forward to the 2013 Island Heritage CharityDrive.”