–      Children to receive assistance with secondary education
–      More than one million dollars already in the fund
DEMERARA Distillers Limited (DDL), sole manufacturer of world renowned Demerara Rums recently launched ‘The DDL Foundation’, a charity dedicated to assisting deserving students in pursuing an education. The Foundation will initially focus on the advancement of education in secondary students by assisting with the main costs associated with attending school.

These include books, uniforms, transportation and meals, according to a release from DDL.

DDL said the main target would be students who have excelled in the National Grade Six Examination and who are deserving of assistance because of financial constraints.

The Foundation which comprises mainly volunteers from the DDL staff body would also include a Mentorship Programme where each child would be linked to a Mentor who will monitor the performance of the child and provide the necessary moral and other support during the period of their relationship with the Foundation.

The Foundation is being managed by a Board of Directors under the Chairmanship of Mr. Rudy Collins. Other Directors of the Foundation are: Mr. Chandradat Chintamani, Mr. Loris Nathoo, Ms Sharda Veeren-Chand and Mrs. Evelyn Hamilton. Ms Alison Thorne has been appointed as the legal adviser to the Foundation while Mrs. Sharon Sue-Hang will serve as Secretary to the Board.

Demerara Distillers Limited, on Tuesday, made the first donation to the Foundation of $1,000,000 while another donation of Cdn$720 was received from an overseas based Guyanese Group. The cheque was handed over to the Chairman of the Foundation by Ms Janet Naidoo.

In making the donation, Chairman of DDL, Mr. Yesu Persaud noted, “DDL has over the years been committed to development of people and has helped in different ways. What we are doing now is providing a formal structure to be better able to channel resources to those children and families that need them most.”

Chairman of the Board of the Foundation Mr. Rudy Collins, in receiving these donations, thanked Demerara Distillers for the first donation and lauded DDL “as a Company which continually embraced its corporate responsibility over the years by extending its arm to various charitable organisations, NGO’s and sporting groups”.

He noted that “as an extension of that responsibility, DDL saw it fit to establish a more durable, sustainable and substantial contribution to the nation’s social development”.

He also expressed the Foundation’s deep appreciation to Ms Naidu and the other donors and assured them that it would go a long way in helping the Foundation to achieve its purpose.