ENHANCING Potential to Inspire Change (EPIC) Guyana has donated some 30 mattresses to the Sophia Juvenile Detention Centre, as it seeks to bring comfort to the lives of detained children.

EPIC Guyana received a monetary award from ‘One Hundred People Who Care’ and completed the initiative with assistance from ‘Value4u’, distributor of various brands.

EPIC Guyana is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) primarily working to help children who have had negative law-enforcement contact and are currently detained.

Executive Director of EPIC Guyana, Brian Backer, told the Chronicle that the outreach was part of the organisation’s continuous effort to bring comfort into the lives of confined children.

“At present, there are 26 children housed at the facility, ranging from 10 years to 16 years. We at EPIC strive towards empowering these children through the introduction of fundamental workshops on anger management, conflict resolution, anti-bullying, anti-suicide etc, as well as the provision of footwear, clothing, recreational gear, educational materials, haircuts and other necessities to meet their essential needs,” Backer explained.

He thanked John Fernandes Limited for the work the company does in the background and for always ‘answering the call’ to be of assistance by providing summer jobs and food hampers, among others.

The company’s Chief Executive Officer Philip Fernandes, said the founder (John Fernandes Snr) had always been a man who loved to give back. It is now a “company culture” to give back and support organisations like EPIC which are doing a good job, he said.