ON Wednesday 3rd June, 2015 Food for the Poor (Guyana) Incorporated (FFP) celebrated 24 years of dedicated service to the poor and needy in our country.Obligated to assisting the poorest of the poor in our midst, FFP’s main thrust in transforming the lives of the less fortunate are food, housing, education, health, sports, agriculture and other self sustainable projects.
The non-governmental organisation, arguably the largest charitable organisation in our country, commenced operations on 3rd June, 1991 in Kingston Georgetown before moving to 248, Forshaw and Oronoque Streets, Queenstown. Because of the great need of essential services for the population, it quickly expanded and is presently located at 1999-2002, Blue Mountain Road, Festival City, North Ruimveldt, Georgetown.
FFP is headed by a Board of Directors chaired by Mr. Paul Chan-A-Sue while the daily operations are managed by Mr. Kent Vincent, Chief Executive Officer. It was previously managed by former Executive director Mr. Leon Davis who retired in 2012 after 21 years of excellent service to the organization.
Through its dedicated donors, the charity has built more than 3100 housing units since its inception and in 2014 distributed 196 containers of goods inclusive of food, medicine, health care items, educational supplies and sporting equipment.
The organisation’s Angels of Hope Programme caters for 236 children from ten orphanages. A monthly supply of food, clothing, toiletries and school supplies are donated to the homes. The children are sponsored by donors from the United States of America. Children must be under the age of 18 years old to be admitted to the programme. The annual Angels of Hope Day celebration is scheduled to be held on Friday 24th July at the Carifesta Complex ground.
One hundred and ninety-two children from three schools namely East La Penitence, Enterprise and Mashabo primary, benefit daily from FFP’s School Feeding Programme. The children enjoy a hot nutritious meal with beverages and fruits. The parents of the children are also given monthly hampers.
The entity is also engaged in water, self-sustainable agricultural and animal husbandry projects to name a few.
Most of FFP’s funding is derived from donations and fundraising activities such as: corn houses, school raffles, cake sales, and take away lunches among others. One of the main fundraisers is the Annual Fundraising Dinner.
Despite the faithful support from donors, both local and overseas, CEO Mr. Vincent said that the agency is in need of more support from private businesses to carry out its operations.
“ There are many businesses out there who do not support Food for the Poor and the work we do is basically helping those who are in greatest need; the poorest of the poor. So we need as much help as we can get,” he pleaded.
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