Dear Sir,

I am writing as a concerned citizen and as a non-profit leader. My concern is about our existing healthcare system. Our healthcare goes up by 23 per cent this month.

I am baffled and frustrated.

This is an increase I did not put into our budget — either in my family or in the non-profit I lead.

Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation has three months left until our fiscal year ends.

This has been a year that has been wonderful and yet really difficult. We have grown in so many ways as a non-profit and reached our mission in empowering children through art. But where we have moved forward with our mission and the children we have in our programmes, we have been pushed back financially, and I am unsure that Kaleidoscope can handle these continued rising expenses going forward.

I want to continue. All of my staff, who are my second family, want to continue. The children, teachers and parents want us to continue. I know that the work we are doing is extremely important, more so than ever before.

But the divide grows. It widens daily.

The majority of non-profits are companies whose main resource is their incredible staff that believe passionately about their job. Culturally, it has been deemed the reward should be the work and not the paycheque. And, by God, these humans definitely do this for the work and not the paycheque.

But they still have to live. They still have to pay bills, feed their children, keep their lights on, pay for healthcare.

How can I pay my staff a living wage with benefits when the cost of living continues to go up so dramatically?

23%

How can I raise our fees to cover these increases without creating a divide of who can pay and who will need a bursary increase? How can I raise more money to now fund the growing bursary need from increasing our fees — to continue to pay my staff — in a time when raising money is really, really hard? And did I mention my non-profit is an arts foundation? The arts. So incredibly important at any age, for all humans, but especially so for the youngest ones that desperately need to have the arts as their grounding in the world.

23%

I have had many conversations with people from all different occupations and backgrounds, and everyone is just as miffed, angry, frustrated and defeated as I feel. Increases are across the board.

I have shopped around, too, at the other healthcare options. Two pieces of information just floored me and our group: there are too many women, and too many of us are old.

23%

I want to know why our labour government, which has been in power for the best part of 20 years, has not been advocating for a comprehensive and affordable healthcare system for Bermuda and her people, but instead has held the doors open for the existing healthcare groups to create a model that is focused on profit.

How can non-profits continue?

23%

This is not sustainable.

FIONA RODRIGUEZ-ROBERTS

Executive director

Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation