The Salvation Army received $5 million from the Government of Guyana on Friday at the launch its Christmas Appeal at the Georgetown Club on Camp Street.
The subvention is the second for the year as the organisation continues to work with substance abusers.
Edward Boyer, Chairman of the Salvation Army’s advisory board, thanked supporters for their contribution and involvement in the service of the Salvation Army. He said he was privileged to be associated with the drug rehabilitation programme for men. “It is a new beginning for them,” he said, saluting the men from the programme who have completed rehabilitation.
Boyer indicated that the Salvation Army is expecting to extend its service in the new year.
This year marks 108 years of service for the institution.
“This government is proud to have a partner like the Salvation Army Guyana Division,” Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh said. He added that the $5 million given periodically to support the rehabilitation programme was among the best “spent $5 million in the entire budget and I have had the privilege of observing the remarkable impact that the programme has on people’s lives… real people experiencing real change.”
He charged the people gathered at the launch to remember their role in national development. He said no one is absolved from individual responsibility toward the country’s progression.
“None of us enjoys the privilege of detachment, we all have a role to play in national development. Every child every parent, every elderly person contributes to and influences the achievement of an outcome,” he said
“We say we want an economy that is strong and we call on our government to have an appropriate framework to contribute to the strength of the economy and that’s what you have …You have a government (that) has responded to that call,” he stated, encouraging the men who were part of the rehabilitation programme to develop themselves and take back “what substance abuse” took from them. “Your government awaits your return to full productive contribution.”
He also spoke on the city’s garbage crisis, noting that the responsibility of a clean city is not only the government and the municipality but also the citizens’. “A clean city will only be achieved by individual attitudes. No matter how many laws we write on the law books a clean city will only be achieved until every citizen realises that littering is anti-social irresponsible behaviour. We throw our hands up in the air when the streets get flooded and we say ‘oh my goodness what is the city council doing? What is the government doing?’ But neither the government nor the city council puts those Styrofoam boxes or the bottles in the drains,” he said.
