Under the theme “Saving little hearts for 50 years, one beat at a time”, The Heart Ball Committee and patrons of the Annual Heart Ball the 50th anniversary of The Heart Foundation, while raising funds to repair children’s hearts.
One of the highlights of the evening was the presentation of The Lady Sassoon Golden Heart Award. This year’s awardee is Lady Camille Barnett. Lady Barnett is an Associate professor at The College of The Bahamas, in the School of Social Sciences.
In 1989 she became a member of the Zonta Club of Nassau. It was through Zonta that she began her work of public charity. As a Zontian she helped established the Golden Z Club at the College of The Bahamas and the Z Club at St. John’s College. Through Zonta, Lady Barnett helped in the establishment of the PACE Foundation. Despite her many undertakings, she is best known for her work with the Bahamas AIDS Foundation. She has been a director of the AIDS Foundation from its inception.
For the past 9 years she has served as the President of the AIDS Foundation and has in many ways been the face of that organization to the Community. Through her stewardship, the AIDS Foundation, has worked tirelessly to educate people, encourage prevention, overcome prejudices, provide support, and fund treatment and care to persons living with HIV/AIDS.
Lady Barnett has been married to Sir Michael Barnett, Chief Justice of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas (that promising Bahamian lawyer) for over thirty years, and is the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of one.
In her acceptance speech Lady Barnett applauded her predecessors, whose work she was able to build upon. She also thanked her family for their support.
