THE Angela Grant Humanitarian Foundation, based in the United States, has a mission of bringing joy to the hearts of less fortunate children, and over the last three weeks it has aimed at fulfilling that mission through a distribution exercise which saw backpacks and school supplies being shared to more than 500 children in coastal and hinterland communities in Guyana.

This is the foundation’s 10th visit to Guyana, and this time around, it extended its reach to Region One, Barima-Waini, with the addition, reaching an additional 80 children from that area.
Founder of the foundation, Angela Grant, said that she is fascinated by the beauty and the potential of Region One’s Eco Tourism and was charmed by the warmth and hospitality exuded by the people there. Moreover, she expressed being touched by their humility, even as they strive to rise above difficult circumstances. She has therefore readily committed to partnering with them and as well as persons from Mabaruma on her visit to Guyana next year.

Groups/locations to which she distributed backpacks and school supplies this year include:

Share the Light Ministry; Artistes in Direct Support; Skeldon, Berbice; Mocha/Arcadia; Ramelo Bascom, Grove; and Full Gospel Fellowship (South Road) for the Mazaruni Missionaries.

Grant ventured on this noble humanitarian initiative about 10 years ago. The initiative started with her giving ‘out-of-pocket’ support in the form of clothing and other personal effects to patients at an HIV Treatment and Care Centre in Georgetown. She also offered counselling to them wherever possible. Placing a high premium on education, she later turned her attention to responding to the needs of underprivileged children in the form of school supplies, while urging them to ‘stay in school’ and not drop out.

Last year she took the initiative to St. Lucia (her paternal homeland) which generated much interest and excitement among the children there. But even before venturing out at that level, this humanitarian touch was spotted in Angela while yet in her juvenile years. As a youth, she became a member of the Guyana Red Cross Society. In her capacity of a cadet officer, she had responsibility for what was called ‘Meals on Wheels,’ taking and delivering meals to shut-ins. She also worked and lectured at the Red Cross Convalescent Home for Children in D’Urban Backlands, Georgetown. Grant benefitted too, from nurses’ training at the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital before returning to Castries, St. Lucia, where her parents and some of her siblings resided. She subsequently migrated to the United States of America.

A social worker, she is currently pursuing studies towards a Master’s Degree in Nursing in the USA.
Angela is married to Mr. Louis Grant whom she described as a tower of strength, and who has provided her with the moral and other support as she seeks to fulfil her mission of bringing joy to the hearts of little children. Grant also wishes to record her profound appreciation to donors in the United States, through whose generosity the programme continues to be a success.