This morning saw the third handover of a cheque from Marie Sharp Pepper to the Hope Haven Foundation for survivors of domestic violence. The cheque for $10,000 is the third annual donation of proceeds from the "Pure Love" pepper. The pepper sauce which features Pineapple Habanero flavors was initially a collaboration between Marie Sharp Fine foods, Hope Haven, and the U.S. Embassy. Here's more from today's handing over:

Dr. Sharmayne Saunders, President, Haven House
"So, Haven house has been around for quite some time and we have engaged in the work of advocating against domestic violence but not only that we've put our money where our mouth is and we've actually, we are one of the longest standing NGO's that have a shelter and a resource center in the country, and we offer this service countrywide so through collaborative efforts with the government of Belize and we have referral in place with the women's department and the domestic violence unit of the police station we are able to house our women and their children who are victims of domestic violence. We recognize that this work because it's done primarily by NGO's is not a service offered by the government it is a really financially burdensome project or work that we do and so a lot of our work and our efforts are focused on raising funds and we were fortunate that Ms. Marie Sharp had this brain child of the love pepper as it is called."

Jody Williams, Chief Marketing and Sales Director
"This was a project that happened back in early 2019 when we collaborated with the U.S. Embassy, we know that domestic violence has been a problem in Belize and in societies around the world and said hey we need to give support to the Haven house which we can say is practically the only shelter and space that domestic abuse victims have in Belize which are mostly women. So we decided that back in 2019 and today 2022 in February we are doing our third check handing over to the Haven house as our pledge and donation to help fight domestic violence and to also help with sheltering the victims of domestic violence in Belize."

Dr. Sharmayne Saunders, President, Haven House
"I know right now it's a critical time in our society because we see leaders who, the black eye of domestic violence has been cast on them but domestic violence is happening. It doesn't matter what class race, it's happening and we are one of the providers of this service."

"We will only hear about domestic violence when it hits our doorsteps, other than that it really seems dormant, nobody pays attention to it until it's the who is involved in the domestic violence but the work continues, we have people who need the assistance and help and we can only do it through these types of effort as demonstrated by Marie Sharp and the U.S. Embassy."

Haven House provides support and intervention services for women and children in crisis. Their programs include Emergency shelter, counseling, court advocacy, referrals, and transitional opportunities.

Paul Lister's Perspective

Earlier in the news, we took you back to Blancaneaux Lodge for a look at one of the more heated moments of the Belize 2022: Conservation Symposium. As we told you last night the Symposium wasn't an NGO or a government initiative. It was actually organized by a foreign entity.

Paul Lister is the Founder of the European Nature Trust. His foundation is responsible for conservation efforts that span from Romania to the UK.

And now, he's taken an interest in Belize. But we wanted to find out more about the furniture designer turned philanthropist and why he chose to organize this symposium in Belize.

Lister hopes that the Conservation Symposium can become an annual event.

COVID Trending Down

Finally tonight, Belize's COVID numbers continue to trend down - but the number of daily cases are still high with 771 new cases in the past 24 hours.

The majority of those cases are concentrated in the Cayo district with 188 new cases, followed by The Orange Walk district where there are 156 cases, Belize district with 138.

But on the bright side, tonight's reported 929 recoveries have taken active cases down to 7,944.

There are 22 patients hospitalized - 10 unvaxxed, 3 partially vaxxed, 8 fully vaxxed, and one unannounced. 6 patients are in the ICU, four unvaxxed, and two partially vaxxed. There are no new deaths to report.