Youths benefit from RHTY&SC’s Basil Butcher Trust Fund
– close to $700,000 in cycles and school supplies distributed
Youths from the Ancient County of Berbice over the last week benefited from donations of bicycles, electronic tablets and school bags from the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTY&SC) under its Basil Butcher Trust Fund.
Some students pose with donations of school bags and educational materials
The items were handed over to the youths to mark the 89th birth anniversary of the legendary Test cricketer, who died in December 2019. Club Secretary/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hilbert Foster stated that the cricket teams of the RHTY&SC, MS, under the fund, sought ways to make a positive difference in the lives of the less fortunate and youths.
Members of the RHTY&SC pose with their cycles after the presentation
Special emphasis, he stated, is placed on the promotion of sports and education as part of the club’s efforts to assist youths to fulfil their potential in the classroom and on the cricket field. Ten youths benefited from the donations of cycles, compliments of Dave Narine of Dave West Indian Imports of New York, United States of America.
The youths included Adrian Kistama, who excelled at the recent Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE). The cycles would assist the youths to attend school and cricket practice. Foster urged them to take care of the cycles and to balance their involvement in sports with a solid performance in the classroom. Thanks were extended to Narine for his sponsorship of the cycles.
A total of 17 electronic tablets were also handed over to cricketers across the county and members of the St Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Youth Club of Port Mourant. Cricketers from several clubs benefited, including players from Achievers, Bush Lot United, Cotton Tree, Rose Hall Canje, Upper Corentyne, Port Mourant and Edinburgh.
Members of St Francis Youth Club with their electronic tablets
Eight members of St Francis Youth Club on Sunday during mass received a tablet each .Foster stated that the RHTY&SC was pleased to assist members of the youth club which played a major role in the launching of the RHTY&SC in 1990. The tablets, which were donated by Ramdeo Kumar of Beacon Café and Bruce Butcher, son of Basil Butcher, would be used by the youths to do research in school .
The cricket teams of the RHTY&SC also donated more than 400 school bags with educational materials to schoolchildren under the trust fund. The school bags were donated to the club, compliments of Beacon Café, Pernel Christie, Pixel Guyana Inc, and Jason Sripal of J Supermarket among others. The educational materials were donated by Canadian Surplus of Providence and Food For The Poor (Guy).
The late Butcher was the fourth Berbician to play for the West Indies at the Test cricket level. Butcher was a mentor to cricketers of the RHTY&SC for over two decades and is widely credited for the role he played in offering advice in the club cricket development programme. He played 44 Test matches, scoring 3104 runs at an average of 43.11 with seven centuries and 16 fifties.
