Gov’t offers boosted support to Food For The Poor – leading charitable organisation to get land, duty-free concessions, annual budgetary subvention
PRESIDENT David Granger has declared that his Government, in its committed effort to eradicate extreme poverty, will be boosting the support given to the leading charitable Organisation in the country, Food For The Poor (FFTP).
Speaking on Friday evening at FFTP’s annual fund raising dinner held in the Savannah Suite of the Pegasus Hotel, the President pointed out that, “If it wasn’t for Food For The Poor, Guyana’s poverty rate would have been higher.”
Therefore, supporting FFP would be equivalent to supporting the fight against poverty; which President Granger stated is because the Organisation’s goodness reaches every corner of the country.
“I applaud their immediate, industrial scale of existence…their income generating projects have been changing the lives of many from poverty to self-sufficiency and my Government is committed to the objective of eradicating extreme poverty from our country within the next five years…it is a bold and ambitious goal but it is a necessary duty if we are to reclaim our human dignity, if we are to reclaim our self-esteem and self-respect and if this country is to develop,” President Granger said.
Of recent His Excellency, after a visit to the Organisation’s headquarter in Festival City, Georgetown, discovered that they were suffering a space issue.
Hence, he declared that the Government will be offering two hectares of land free of cost for the construction of a larger facility.
This announcement was met with applause from the large gathering at the annual fundraising dinner where President Granger attended with First Lady Mrs Sandra Granger.
Apart from that, the support offered will also include duty free concessions for all vehicles imported by the Organisation, so that they could widen their outreach scale.
However, the support does not stop there. President Granger said “the Government will be providing in the 2016 budget a fixed annual subvention to supplement Food For The Poor.”
According to the President, the assistance given to the Organisation will be instrumental in assisting them to help the Government in eradicating poverty. “With sufficient support, Food For The Poor’s work can be more impactful in alleviating poverty in our country,” he said.
He emphasised that Guyana cannot claim to uphold human dignity when many of its citizens subsist on an income that is insufficient to provide for their daily meals.
“Respect for human dignity calls for a level of concern, a level of commitment and a call to action in eradicating extreme poverty from our society, Food For The Poor attempts to do just that but it has gone beyond providing handouts; it has helped to empower individuals…helping people to help themselves,” the Head of State posited.
The President also called on citizens, especially corporate Guyana, to recognise their responsibility to help those in need, since Government cannot do it alone.
In his remarks, FFTP’s Chief Executive Officer Mr. Kent Vincent, conveyed the message to the public that although FFP unveils so many multi-million-dollar projects, they would not be able to exist without the support of the Government, other organisations and individuals.
He made mention of this because, “when persons hear of the projects we do, they think that Food For The Poor is well off, but in fact it is not without the support of others that we are able to do what we do.”
Their supported, he disclosed, encompasses almost all of the ten administrative regions in Guyana; whether it be in the form of housing, education, health, sports and so forth.
As such, Vincent stressed that “support is key for the future of this charitable Organisation, so that we can continue our fight against poverty, so that persons around the country can be assured of a comfortable life.”
FFTP has become the leading charitable Organisation in Guyana since its establishment here in 1991. Its reach extends throughout the 10 administrative regions in Guyana, providing food, clothing, shelter, sporting equipment and other essential items to thousands of less fortunate individuals.
By Navendra Seoraj
