First Lady, Sandra Granger on Monday agreed to partner with the Step by Step Foundation and Republic Bank (Guyana) Incorporated to increase awareness about autism in Guyana, a release from the Ministry of the Presidency said.
Dr. Suraiya Ismail, Chair of the Executive Committee, Deborah Seebarran, Deputy Chair, Cynthia Massay, of the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre and Kiran Mattai, Treasurer, all of the Step by Step Foundation and Michelle Johnson, Republic Bank’s Marketing and Communications Manager, met with the First Lady at her State House office.
The Foundation is run exclusively by a team of volunteers and operates a school for children with autism. In an invited comment, Mrs. Granger said the group met with her to talk about “the challenges [and] the progress that they have made and to discuss possible areas of collaboration to increase awareness about autism in Guyana.” According to Dr. Ismail, Republic Bank has joined with the group to mark observances for Autism Month in April and they are interested in collaborating with the First Lady on the activities.
Johnson said that Republic Bank and the Step by Step Foundation have had a partnership for several years.
“They are one of our partners under the Power to Make a Difference social investment programme and in addition to autism awareness activities, annually we work with them to bring in doctors [and to pay] tuition for two students at the Step by Step School,” Johnson was quoted as saying. This year the Bank and the Foundation are “stepping up our awareness activities”, she added.
