St. George’s, Grenada, August 19th, 2021. Grenada Community Development Agency (GRENCODA), the parent of the Student Assistance Programme (SAP), has consistently provided support for secondary school students across the country whose families are experiencing economic hardship and difficulties in meeting the costs of their children attending school.

The programme has continued to garner the support of the country’s corporate entities, as they recognize the difference it continues to make in the lives of families, and children, in Grenada’s most rural communities.

Mr. Tyrone Buckmire, Director of the Legal Aid and Counselling Clinic project of GRENCODA, commented on the flagship Student Assistance Programme (SAP), saying; “ Covid-19 has exacerbated the reality of challenges facing many of the vulnerable and poor families, which we seek to support. Some of these are already without basic needs such as electricity, much less any access to computers, tablets and even a mobile phone.

These have now become every day necessities if we want to facilitate these children attending school via the platforms now available. It has become incumbent upon us to provide non–traditional, additional support to families, in this completely changed environment in order to make a significant difference in the children’s lives.  It’s a work in progress, and only feasible through the support of corporate donors and sponsors such as CIBC FirstCaribbean.  Without the support of these entities, we would have folded a long time ago,” he concluded.

SAP continues to task itself to provide basic food and other needs of the families around the country, whilst appreciatively receiving donations of computers and other electronic items, from the corporate sector. Handing over the 2021 donation to GRENCODA, Ms. Shirlyn Mitchell, Credit Sales Support for CIBC FirstCaribbean stated, “The bank is very proud to have had such a long history of supporting the Student Assistance Programme, almost since its inception in 1988. We applaud the work of the organization, as it continues in its work to look after one of our country’s most vulnerable and valuable assets, our children.”