OVER the past six years, the name Linden Dream Team (LDT) has become known far and wide in the town of Linden, and has been making significant strides in executing charitable and educational activities throughout the ‘10-day’ event that is the Linden Town Week (LTD).
Many may associate the Linden Dream Team with the highly anticipated Colour Party, held every year on the Friday of LTD, since they have been successfully hosting that event for the past six years.
There is, however, more to the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) than meets the eye, since its aim is to raise funds to offset the expenses it incurs hosting all of its other charitable and educational ventures.
According to the organisation’s Mission Statement, its objective is to “Aid in the revitalisation of Linden through education.”

RISING STARS

Events like the ‘Rising Star Essay Competition’, which is held annually, sees participation from many students, and according to Marlyn Waterton, this year saw the submission of 250 essays from schools all across Linden.

This year also, most of the entries came from the Christianburg-Wismar Secondary School.
“At the beginning of the year, we normally send the essay topic to the High Schools and the students have one month to submit it to you,” Waterton said.
“We have a category for Forms One to Three, and another from Four to Five, but of this year, we incorporated the juniors, who are the Sixth Graders, to bring the Primary Schools into it,” she added.
The presentation ceremony for that event was on Tuesday, and the First, Second and Third-place prizes were a laptop, a tablet, and a bicycle respectively.
The kids were also awarded trophies, while each student who submitted essays received a certificate and a star in recognition of their being ‘Rising Stars’.
On Wednesday, the Linden Dream Team hosted a ‘Day of Sports’ for those Linden students who are differently-abled. It was held at the Bayroc Community Centre Ground and saw students from both the Linden School for Special Needs and the Wismar Hill Primary School’s Visually Impaired Unit.
Each student received a prize, regardless of how they placed, since the aim is make them all feel loved and special and their efforts appreciated.
Linden’s star athletes, Chantoba Bright and Compton Caesar also received prizes for their success at the just-concluded CARIFTA Games.

OTHER ACTIVITIES
And, despite the NGO’s focus being on students and education, ventures also include senior citizens, with 250 of them receiving hampers at the annual senior citizens’ lunch hosted by the Linden Mayor and Town Council. Members of the Dream Team also volunteered to serve the elderly for that day.
While most of the activities are done during the Linden Town Week, The Dream Team also hosts a two-week summer camp for students during the August vacation, at the end of which each participant leaves with a bag filled with school supplies.

At Christmas-time, the team hosts a Christmas Party for disabled students, while throughout the year, it hosts several book drives.
So, when you put on your ‘theme colour’ and attended the LDT party on Friday, you will have put a smile on the faces of the students in Linden. This year’s party themed, ‘Blue Explosion’.
In October, a ‘Colour Release Party’ will be held in New York, and the proceeds from that also will go to the ventures.
“Every year,” Waterton said, “we come together and pick a colour. This year, we just brainstormed, but we didn’t realise that the kids of two of our members in the organisation are autistic; and April is Autistism Month and the colour for that c month is blue.
“So we were happy that we also picked that colour in recognition of Autism Month.”
The Linden Dream Team would like to express its appreciation for all the support it has had over the years from the regional authorities, but most importantly from the people of Linden who show theirs by attending their events.