THE DDL Foundation last Saturday evening presented the first three graduates of the foundation at the Fifth Annual Fundraising Dinner at the Marriott Hotel.Chelsea Balkarran who attended Queen’s College, along with Fareeda Bacchus and Natasha Loncke who attended the Bishops’ High School, were the first students selected when the DDL Foundation was established five years ago. These three students all successfully completed secondary school.
The DDL Foundation assists secondary students by providing financial assistance to cover the main costs associated with attending school. This includes books, uniforms, transportation and meals. The main target group are students who have excelled in the National Grade Six Examination and who have demonstrated their need for assistance as a result of their financial or social constraints. Employees of DDL also support the students by serving as mentors, and the students attend quarterly sessions to report on their academic progress.
Today, just only after five years, the Foundation is providing full assistance to 27 students at the country’s leading secondary schools. The DDL Foundation provides for the students through support from a variety of corporate sponsors.
Speaking after presenting the graduates, DDL Foundation Chairman Rudy Collins said, “The Foundation is working to further establish itself as the premier, the most sought after, the most dependable and the most respected national institution providing assistance to young Guyanese of exceptional talent to pursue their dreams – dreams the realisation of which will have a positive and direct impact on and will therefore make a significant contribution to Guyana’s development.”
Giving his report on the Foundation’s work over the past year, Chairman Collins added that, “The Board has decided on the creation of an Endowment Fund. This will allow a benefactor who believes in the future of the foundation and seeks to ensure its stability to donate a significant sum of money to be used for any agreed set of purposes. Perhaps the most common one is to request that the donated sum be held in a fixed deposit or invested in particular shares and the interest acquired be used by the Foundation, for example, in providing scholarships.”
Chairman of Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), Komal Samaroo, in his remarks noted that “In recent times “sustainability” has become the new cornerstone of development. Indeed, the United Nations has only recently been meeting on its new Sustainable Development Goals. And it is in this context that I particularly wish to welcome the announcement by Chairman Collins of the setting up of an “Endowment Fund” the income from which, in the long term, will ensure sustainability of the work of this Foundation.”
Mr. Samaroo then went on to announce that his family would be making the first donation to the DDL Foundation Endowment Fund of one million dollars. Mrs. Silitha Samaroo, wife of Chairman Samaroo made the presentation of the cheque to Chairman of the DDL Foundation Rudy Collins.
Later on in the proceedings Mr. Sharma made a presentation of another million dollars on behalf of the family of Bert Carter and this was followed by a pledge of one million dollars by Mr. Kads Khan on behalf of the Kads Khan Family Trust.
During the evening, as part of the fund raising efforts, a bottle of the limited El Dorado 25-Year-Old Rum was auctioned along with three bottles of El Dorado Rare Collection Rums – Versailles 2001, Port Mourant 1999 and Enmore 1993. These El Dorado Rare Collections Rums are only available in Europe.