Former bank CEO Philip Butterfield is being honoured for his extensive charitable contributions to the community on Friday at a special dinner organised by drug treatment charity Caron Bermuda.Mr Butterfield, who last week officially retired as CEO of HSBC Bank of Bermuda Limited, has been involved with Caron Bermuda since its inception.“I believe in the power of redemption,” said Mr Butterfield. “Life is too short to reject someone because they have had a level of difficulty in their personal life.”He will give a speech about his work with Caron Bermuda at the upcoming Richard J Caron Award of Excellence Dinner at the Fairmont Southampton Hotel. Proceeds from the dinner will support Caron Bermuda’s Adolescent and Family Programme and Scholarship Fund, which will provide financial assistance to those who are unable to afford overseas residential treatment at their Caron United States Treatment Centers.“When the conversation first began six or seven years ago, about the possibility of having an on-Island access point for substance abuse rehabilitation it seemed to me to make sense,” said Mr Butterfield. “Several years ago I hosted a breakfast for business leaders that allowed Caron to make their pitch about setting up a treatment centre in Bermuda.“It turned out that many others of my peers felt the same way and that began the initiative to properly fund a substance abuse treatment programme. The programme was affiliated with a service provider that had a credible track record, and I thought that was good, because, in my judgment, it makes no sense to try to do things alone. It has been an enterprise that I have seen fit to continue to support because I believe in the work that they do.”He said that while he doesn’t have any close family or friends who have been treated by Caron, he has had employees and known people in the community who have benefited from the work of Caron.“I was beyond pleased to receive this award,” said Mr Butterfield. “I always say, you should take accolades when they are offered. It is not something I sought, but when Gita Blakeney-Saltus (regional vice president of Caron Bermuda) asked, for the purpose of raising money for Caron this was an easy yes. I am looking forward to the 18th of May.”He said at the banquet he plans to say something about why he believes it is so important to give back to the community, no matter who you are.“What I know is that it is important to have balance in one’s life,” he said. “If you are only committed to running the business enterprise you are responsible for, then that is a pretty one-dimensional experience. If you can bring a level of balance where you are involved in trying to make the world a better place, it brings a more positive perspective to things. I have a schedule that is probably a little nuts, but it brings me a level of personal satisfaction.”In addition to Caron, Mr Butterfield is involved in a number of other charities and community projects, on and off the Island.For example, he is the chair of the Bermuda Hospitals Charitable Trust. He is currently helping them to raise $40 million by 2014 for the new hospital. They are now more than halfway to their target with $25 million raised so far.“When we looked at the objective there were some people who were sceptical because that sum of money had never been raised in Bermuda before,” he said. “But I was never doubtful. I always knew it was a matter of designing the way we would approach the task. It was a matter of getting the right people engaged and then going about it methodically.”The campaign targets international business, local companies and individuals in the community to help them raise the money. A charitable trust was formed for this purpose.“No one was daunted by the sum of $40 million,” said Mr Butterfield. “They thought given that it was the hospital, something like that could be done. Our lead gift so far has come from the Bank of Bermuda Foundation. They have given $10 million towards the hospital which is absolutely outstanding. A number of the international companies have contributed at the $1 million level. We have had families contributing at the half million and million level. We have had local companies at the same level. It has really been quite heartwarming.”He believed it was fundamentally important for Bermudians to be able to look at the hospital and say “we built that”.“I believe to those whom much has been given, much is expected,” said Mr Butterfield. “I grew up in a household where the mantra always was if you can help someone along life’s way then your living is not in vain. I really take great joy in doing that whatever way that I can.”Mr Butterfield is also a trustee of Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, and chair of the advisory committee of the Bermuda Environmental Alliance.“The group is about bringing a higher level of awareness to matters of the environment,” he said. “I grew up in an era where it was unacceptable to leave trash on the ground or throw trash out of a car.”In his home life he retains his interest in the environment. He and his wife Rosalind live in a house in Hamilton Parish overlooking the water. He often spends relaxing moments on his front porch watching longtails dive and swoop. He and his wife also try to recycle, and he wished Bermuda had a more extensive recycling plan.“I remember at age nine I participated in a Keep Bermuda Beautiful essay competition when I went to the Central School (now Victor Scott Primary School),” he said. “I found my certificate the other day. It shows that I have had an interest in seeing to it that we are appropriate custodians of our environment from an early age. So we (the Bermuda Environmental Alliance) are raising awareness through education and training initiatives. We have created a series of DVDs distributed to schoolchildren with the objective of giving them information about Bermuda so they can be better informed and more drawn to take responsibility to protect the environment.”In his retirement he hopes to improve on his golf game, and also give more time to his passion for classical music. In the past, he and his wife spent several years living in the United States. While they lived in New York, Mr Butterfield chaired the board of the Harlem Boys Choir, and today he is a trustee of the American Classical Orchestra.“It is a period instrument classical orchestra,” said Mr Butterfield. “It is an orchestra that plays music just as Beethoven, Bach and Mozart would have played it. They are a continuation of my love for music. As a child I played the trombone. Although I haven’t played in many years, I still remember every position and where to place the slide to make the notes.”He hopes to take up oboe lessons, because he loves the sound of this particular instrument.“Maybe I will now find some time to play,” he said.