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Farfan and Mendes donates $1M to school for autistic children
As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, Farfan and 
Mendes Limited (FML) yesterday handed over a cheque of $1,000,000 to the institution ‘Step by Step Guyana’ – a school for children in Guyana, living with Autism.
The presentation was made to the Chairperson of the school, Dr. Suraiya Ismail, by Mahendra Gopilall, the captain of a cricket team in Rose Hall, Berbice, that is also sponsored by FML.
FML hosted a promotion during the month of July, whereby customers were given “Discounts for Donations”, as part of the fund raiser. During this promotion, customers took advantage of a maximum 20 percent discount on premium brands in store.
The company has been giving generously to the institution for approximately five years and this year’s contribution, which was done at the FML building in Providence, EBD, will be used for a building programme of a school for autistic children in Bagotstown, EBD.
Andrew Mendes, managing director of FML, said, “Step by Step foundation is one of the organizations that we’ve been helping since 2012.” He continued by saying that the company is dedicated to helping children achieve a better education and so this programme was embarked upon. It began with the company financing a child for one year and has developed to th
is stage.
Meanwhile, the Chairperson of Step by Step foundation, Dr. Ismail stated, “We have been in existence since 2011 and we rely completely on private sector donations and we are very grateful to Farfan and Mendes for their long term support. Parents of children who come to us are invited to make donations, but we do not require fees, therefore sponsorship for children, particularly children who come from needy families, is very important to our work.”
She mentioned in her statement that the institute has a very high expenditure, since they have individual programmes. Dr. Ismail said, “We have very individualized programmes. For every three children we have one tutor, and so we need to keep fund raising along the way, and we would also like to expand. We have a waiting list of more than 40 children that we cannot accommodate at the moment because we do not have the space for them, so we’re looking forward to a larger space.”
She said the school which currently has 18 children, six tutors and a supporting staff, has been supported tremendously by “overseas consultants” which costs them little or nothing. The chairperson expounded that the school would be grateful for any contributions and highlighted that it is one that is unique in Guyana, in the sense that they “tackle autism at the young stage”.
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