Raymond "Chi Chi" Fonseca is a community oriented professional who is focused on giving back to his community, mainly through sports and working with the youths. Photo: VINO

Fonseca at Sea Cows Bay Basketball Court working along with a group of young men in developing their on court skills in the game. Photo: VINO

Fonseca is pictured with daughter Rayah,was the Father of the Year 2010. Fonseca said his main goal in life is to get his daughter back on her feet. Photo: Jasmine Perez/GIS File

For a community oriented individual who spent most of his life working to give back to the community, especially the youth, Virgin Islands News Online is proud to present Raymond “Chi Chi” Fonseca.

After serving in the public service for 25 years, Fonseca retired on July 8, 2012 with a dedication to two main things – giving back to the youths of his community but firstly, to get his daughter Rayah to walk again. The proud father of Brittany and Rayah, is her main caregiver since a tragic incident in 2003 left Rayah with disabilities. Her mom passed away two years after the incident.

For the dedicated father, his first year after retiring is dedicated to his daughter and her therapy and then he will zoom into his new career as well as continue his several community projects he has been doing for several years and plans to continue on a larger scale.

Giving a preview of his life, after high school, Fonseca spent two years at the Public Works Department, 22 years and three months at HM Customs and his last nine months teaching sports at the Eslyn Henley Richiez Learning Centre where his daughter is a student.

Currently, the former national basketball and volleyball player, is involved in several community projects which are mainly centred around sports. He is working with the youths in Sea Cows Bay to develop their basketball and baseball skills, as well as, youths in Anegada.

In addition, he has a Girls Basketball training camp planned for August, with the hope of establishing a Girls Basketball Club in Sea Cows Bay and is inviting the churches to be part of that programme.

The co-founder of the recently formed BVI Little League Baseball/Softball Association, which was formed by himself and Eddric Braithwaite, said the idea is to target youths from the sister islands as they do not get the amount of attention as youths on Tortola.

The community oriented Virgin Islander, who hails from the Sea Cows Bay community, describes himself as a caring person with the youths at heart and is using sports as the vehicle to reach to them.

“If it wasn’t for sport in my life I probably would have dropped out of school, using drugs and selling drugs. I watch the youths being on the basketball court, instead of being all over they spend a lot of time on the court. And I know what this has done for me and I always wanted to give back to these youths and keep them on the straight path,” said the basketball enthusiast, who is also the Vice President of the Sea Cows Bay Basketball Association.

Among his notable achievements in sports, Fonseca had the privilege of representing the Virgin Islands regionally and international in basketball and volleyball and won various awards. His most notable at home was recording the Most Blocks for nine consecutive years in the local Volleyball league.

But this is not all this Virgin Islander is involved in. Two years ago, Fonseca and Rayah formed an organization called Compassionate Friends of the BVI where they help to raise funds to assist other persons with disabilities and the elderly in the Virgin Islands. Every year they aim to do three projects or assist three persons and while it has been challenging, he finds it very rewarding. He said he has a small core of persons who assist with the financial aspect, as well as, assistance from Government.

Looking ahead, he plans to get involved in the Government’s after school programme to assist in training for basketball, volleyball and softball and taking those sports to the Sister islands.

Fonseca is also a go-getter and while working full time he has been able to maintain a small landscaping company. This is an area he hopes to develop and continue, but moreover, with his background of over 22 years working in the Customs department, he plans to take his expertise and set up a Customs Brokerage company. That’s not all, our professional also has his taxi license and plans to capitalize on work in that area as needed.

With everything on his plate though, getting his daughter back on her feet is his number one priority.

“At this point I want her to walk again on her own, to be more self-sufficient, that is my number one goal. The only thing I live for right now and my desire and in another year and a half if that can happen then I go from there,” said the very caring father.

The political field is also an area that Fonseca plans to delve into in the distant future as he believes it is one of the best ways to give back to the Territory.

With the youths at heart and wanting the best for them, Fonseca advises youths to, “stay in school, education is very important to have, be respectful, especially to your peers and also to the seniors and your parents. Try and work for what you want not what someone else has and try and serve God from young, do not wait until you get old. These are the things I had to learn for myself and did as well.”

He further advises the youths to play different sports, not necessarily one as it can take them places.

“I have been all over the world playing sports, meet new friends and travel the world. Kids today, if you can do two or three sports do it, as there are opportunities for scholarships, travel and a good education.”