By Joe Chapman

TWENTY deserving children of the Linden Foundation Secondary School (LFSS) received backpacks and school supplies from Maureen Davidson, wife of Anglican Bishop of Guyana, Suriname and Cayenne, the Right Reverend Charles Davidson last Friday.

The donation was made in conjunction with the Linden Fund USA, among others donors.

Speaking at the presentation held in the Linden Foundation Secondary School auditorium, Headteacher Mrs. Verlin Pitt expressed gratitude to the donors for the kind gesture.

“We are grateful that we have persons who are still interested in the welfare of children; and so the First Lady teamed up with Linden Fund USA to make this venture possible and today they are here to share with the deserving children,” she said.

Quality education, Mrs. Pitt said at times is hindered by lack of materials and facilities on the part of the children and hailed the donation as timely.

“I hope you children are going to make full use of it and value it. We expect better results at your examinations and the donors would like you to get better results and that is why they have come forward to help,” the headteacher said.

Mrs. Davidson said the charitable work started with a small idea.

“I shared it with the chair of the Linden Fund USA, Ms Walcott-Quintin and we set about donations from Linden Fund, which made it possible for us to do it for you guys.  I hope you are going to use it with respect to do your school work,” Mrs. Davidson said.

She added: “You guys are the future of Guyana and if you don’t have enough education, you will not be able to carry on what you parents or grandparents have brought. Guyana is very dear and close me; hence, the reason for I coming back to give this assistance. I hope that this is not going to be our first and last and I do hope we can do this for as long as possible.”

According to Mrs. Davidson, friends and family, a doctor and his wife in the US, among others, with the Linden Fund USA, came forward to make the donation possible.

“We are going to focus on one school and as donation from individuals and more donors coming in, we can get tablets among the supplies come next year,” she said.

Bishop Davidson said the Anglican Church has been in education for a long time and has even founded the Bishops’ High School and Queen’s College.

“So education for us is important as it is an opportunity to make ourselves better and these little things that we do, are so that the money your parents would have spent on this, they can spend it on something else. So we are grateful we can do this and time goes by we can ensure that it becomes an annual thing both here and in Georgetown,” the Bishop said.