DARE gets EC$15,900 donation from Mustique Trust

The Mustique Charitable Trust handed over a quantity of materials to the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) last Tuesday, May 17.{{more}}

The items, valued at over EC$15,900, include workbooks, pencils, erasers, a television and DVD player and will be used in the RSVGPF’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) programme.

According to Lavinia Gunn, Administrator of the Mustique Charitable Trust, there was a distinct lack of funding for the continuity of the programme.

As a result, the Trust came to the assistance of the police and provided the grant for the purchase of the items, Gunn said.

Constable Angela Castello-Byron, DARE officer, said that the donation came at a crucial time as a new curriculum will be implemented when the school year begins in September.

“We were in dire need of materials to effectively carry out the programme,” PC Byron said, adding that the materials donated were going to make the task of the DARE officers easier.

Lenroy Brewster, Assistant Commissioner of Police, spoke of the significance of the inclusion of the television and DVD player saying that it will help the young children internalize the message that is being spread.

He spoke of the effectiveness of the programme, voicing that it has turned around a number of lives.

Brewster further explained that even though arrests are still being made among the nation’s school youth for drug possession, this does not mean that the DARE programme is failing.

He blamed it on the individual’s lack of obedience to the call for law and order and peer pressure.

Currently the DARE programme is being administered in 18 primary schools across the country, including four in Bequia, touching the lives of over 18,000 of the nation’s youth.

The programme is a collaborative effort between the RSVGPF, the Ministry of Education, parents and local communities, and is intended to serve as a deterrent to drug abuse, violence and gang involvement for children and teenagers.(DD)