GPL makes donation to assist autistic children

The Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) on Friday handed over $500,000 to the Step-by-Step Foundation, a charity that focuses on assisting children on the autism spectrum.

The donation was made in the boardroom of the Ministry of Education on Brickdam, Georgetown.

GPL’s Public Relations Officer, Natalie Pindar said the entity makes donations to worthy causes every year.

“The Step-by-Step foundation caught our attention because they are focusing on autism, a condition that is… not much is known about autism. And so, our partnership and moving forward in terms of us cementing a relationship with the Step-by-Step foundation is really to bring awareness to the cause.”

Meanwhile, Vice Chair for Step- by-Step, Cynthia Massay said, “We’re extremely grateful to GPL and the Ministry of Education for all the support they have been giving us over the past few years.”

Chief Education Officer, Dr. Marcel Hutson said the education ministry has a Special Education Needs (SEN) unit, which has an understanding of autism, and how children on the spectrum could be helped.

He revealed that the ministry pays the employees of the Step-by-Step Foundation and assists with the development of the curriculum.

This is helpful to the Foundation, Massay said, because it has to host fund raising activities to support its work.

The CEO added that “part of the Ministry of Education’s strategic plan has to do with making sure that our children who have special education needs, that those needs are attended to strategically so that those children also could fulfill potential, because we learned a long time ago that notwithstanding the condition or the situation that the child may be facing, each child is born gifted.” Dr. Hutson said, therefore, that it is the ministry’s intention to ensure that the gifting of each child is nurtured, so they could have an opportunity to impact their own lives and the nation positively.