Humanitarian Service is Goodwill for the Church

Elder and Sister Angus, WIM Humanitarian Services missionaries who travel from island-to-island and country-to-country building goodwill for the Church, had a particularly busy mid-May as they finished up three large projects benefiting, perhaps as many as, 2000 people in Guyana.

On Monday, May 16, family and friends of the New Amsterdam Special Needs School, the school’s 72 children; 18 teachers and staff employed there, along with local leaders and members of the Church came together for handing over festivities to celebrate the completion of multi-faceted church-sponsored humanitarian service projects at the school suggested by Elder and Sister Young, another senior couple serving in the West Indies Mission.

The nearly month-long project included repairs to plumbing to bring water into the kitchen and washroom, a privacy door and 4 new toilets, installation of taps for all sinks and air conditioning in the computer room; a metal filing cabinet, stationary and school supplies for the office and use by the children, and 25 new student desks.

On Tuesday, May 17, the Humanitarian Services missionaries handed off a 40-foot container of materials and supplies to the Guyana Relief Council to assist in their ongoing efforts to alleviate at least some of the trauma suffered by persons whose lives have been disrupted by disasters.

The container, donated by Church Humanitarian Services, was filled to capacity with clothing, shoes, hygiene kits, school supplies, baby kits, toys, household items and blankets valued at $74,219 USD. Also donated were mattresses, bedding, kitchenware and story books for the children all purchased locally and valued at another $891,580 GYD. It is estimated the contents of the container will help as many as 1600 individuals, particularly those who have lost their homes to fire.

For more than seventeen years, the Guyana Relief Council, chaired by Yvonne Hinds, wife of Guyana's Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, has provided for the needs of those in distress in the country’s 10 regions. In 2010, for instance, the GRC provided help to 75 families who had lost their homes to fire; 3 families suffering from losses due to wind damage; and 166 persons who needed welfare assistance, including those in 4 Hinterland communities.

On Wednesday, May 18, parents, teachers and sixty-four first and second grade students at the Windsor Forest Primary School excitedly accepted delivery on Wednesday of a new television, a DVD player, tables and chairs, as well as books for their new reading room.

In addition to the electronics and other materials, valued at $1580 USD (about $316,000 GYD), the school was also the beneficiary of a youth service project involving more than a dozen young men and women from Georgetown’s Vreed-en-Hoop Branch who showed up on a recent Saturday morning to paint some of the interior of the school.

The Church's Humanitarian Services program has long been actively involved in humanitarian relief and development activities throughout the world. These include emergency relief assistance in times of disaster and humanitarian programs to strengthen the self-reliance of individuals, families, and communities.