GDF reaches out to Buxton

Jan 10, 2009 News

…gives stove to community club

Major Natasha Stanford makes the donation to Yvette Herod.

The Toucan II Multi-Purpose Club and the community of Buxton-Friendship were assured that the Guyana Defence Force was not going to give up on the community. The GDF presented a spanking new four-burner floor model Frigidaire stove, valued at $54,000, to the Club yesterday.
This initiative is in keeping with the GDF’s commitment and policies to build strong strategic partnerships with the people and communities across Guyana, according to a release from the army.
“The GDF is pleased to be supporting the Toucan II Club, and this contribution is a further demonstration of our commitment to helping the youths of this community as they move forward.
On behalf of the officers and ranks of the Guyana Defence Force, it is an honour to present you with this stove. We trust that the club’s members, and indeed the entire community, will benefit from its use,” said Major Natasha Stanford, who presented the gift to founder of the Club, Yvette Herod.
Elder of the club, Mrs. Leslie Luke, said that the members of the club were grateful to the GDF for the gift, and thanked the Chief-of-Staff, officers and ranks of the GDF for honouring the promise to provide the assistance they needed.
As an elder, Mrs. Luke provides guidance and teaches the club’s members cooking and sewing.
“This gift is timely and will definitely enhance our capacity to teach our members the skills needed to master the culinary arts. Our focus in the club is to enable the positive development of our youth on the social, academic, and emotional levels.
We need them to be doers of positive things,” she said.
The Toucan II Club has some 250 members, whose ages range from nine to 21. Some of them are university students.
Last year, at the closing ceremony for the Summer Camp which was hosted by the GDF for the youths of Buxton-Friendship, army Chief-of-Staff, Commodore Gary Best, told the members of the club and community that the GDF will not give up on the community, and urged the community not to give up on the GDF.
In addition to the Summer Camp and this latest gesture, the GDF also built a new bridge to the entrance of the premises of the Toucan Club.
The GDF remains committed to building better civilian-military relations while it continues the noble tradition of service to the people of Guyana.

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