Adventists in countrywide community outreach
Youth Director, Pastor Marvyn Smith (seated) and Assistant Youth Director Lennox Jason (third left) display the t-shirts which will be worn by the youths on Global Youth Day on March 16, 2019 (Adrian Narine photo)
Youth Director, Pastor Marvyn Smith (seated) and Assistant Youth Director Lennox Jason (third left) display the t-shirts which will be worn by the youths on Global Youth Day on March 16, 2019 (Adrian Narine photo)

ON Saturday, March 16, 2019, thousands of Seventh-Day Adventists (SDA) in Guyana will conduct countrywide community outreach activities, seeking to impact persons in need, as a part of their Global Youth Day 2019 (GYD2019) initiative.

The annual worldwide SDA activity will see millions of members leaving their churches to head out to various communities to deliver “random acts of kindness”. Yesterday (Wednesday, March 13, 2019), while detailing the plans for the event, Youth Director, Pastor Marvyn Smith, summarised Global Youth Day as an intentional act of the church to demonstrate practical ministry.

Assistant Youth Director, Lennox Jason, told the newspaper that hundreds of persons countrywide will be sharing food baskets, distributing clothing, conducting rehabilitation works, visiting hospitals, senior citizens’ and children’s homes, distributing literature and more.

Smith explained: “Sometimes persons have the opinion that as Seventh-day Adventists, we abstain from doing anything at all on the Sabbath, but this is one time where it is clear that we participate in acts of goodness on the Sabbath day.”

This year’s theme is ‘ADOPT’ which encourages persons to adopt any person or group which they can impact. “We’re encouraged to adopt a children’s home, different places in our communities [such as] centres, grounds or families who are in need,” Jason expounded.

Meanwhile, Smith said that one of the major projects to be undertaken this year is the rehabilitation of the Ashton Alleyne Memorial Ground in D’Urban Backlands, which will become a safe haven for children in the community.

“We have collaborated with several of the religious bodies in that community; they are on board, so it’s a team effort,” Smith said.

To ensure the plan becomes a reality, a grand benefit concert dubbed ‘Pass it on’ will be held on March 23, 2019, featuring special guest artiste Samuel Medas and others such as Earl Bishop, Taianna Cox and Trizanna Atkins.

Meanwhile, funding for the many other acts of kindness comes from the churches involved, fundraising activities and donations. Added to the outreach activities, on Saturday the church will set up three blood donation sites in Georgetown at the Davis Memorial Hospital; in Linden at the Linden-Georgetown Bus Park and in New Amsterdam at the Cumberland SDA church.

Global Youth Day culminates with a youth Week of Prayer which will be held simultaneously worldwide from March 17-23, Smith said. In Guyana, there will be special sites set up in Georgetown, Linden and New Amsterdam which will feature three international youth-oriented preachers from the Caribbean and Atlantic Union and the South Eastern Conference.

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