FIRST Lady Sandra Granger on Thursday met with Guyanese-Canadian and founder of the DeSantos Foundation, Veronica DeSantos, to discuss possible areas of collaboration.
The Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) provides school supplies and other basic necessities to children in need, especially those in New Amsterdam, East Berbice-Corentyne (Region Six).

The First Lady expressed gratitude to Guyanese in the diaspora who give back to their communities.
“It is always good when we have Guyanese in the diaspora, who never forgot their roots and come back year after year and give back to their respective communities. It is a great help because some people are really in crisis and there are a number of other factors which make education a challenge for some people,” she said.

Mrs Granger enlightened the team on some of her on-going programmes, including the Self-Reliance and Success in Business, ‘Care for the Elderly’ and the Information and Communication Technology Training Programmes, as well as the Kind Soles project, which supplies hinterland children with shoes to attend school.

DeSantos also shared her plan to launch mentorship and leadership programmes in Guyana for vulnerable youths, and said, “I am big on leadership. I do a lot of seminars. My goal here is… how do I get the students to go to university or college if they choose to? I have an idea of what I want. If you get one student to the university, hopefully that student would see the benefit and come back and help within their community.”

The First Lady encouraged the team to do follow-up sessions with the children they have assisted to monitor their progress and expressed gratitude for the offer of support on future projects.

The DeSantos Foundation was started in April 1986 and in addition to the work it does in Guyana, supports a number of charities, school snack programmes and food drives in Canada and has extended its mentorship and leadership programmes in the Philippines.
DeSantos was joined in the State House meeting by two members of her organization, Celestine Kyte and Sharon Cox, the Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP) said in a release.