Basil Charles, chair of the Basil Charles Educational Foundation, says that the main objective of the organization is to help young Vincentians to be better.

Charles, speaking at a brief ceremony to present three new scholarships and two bursaries to students entering secondary schools in September this year, told the students that they should continue to improve in their studies and make their parents and the Foundation proud.{{more}}

“The best thing anyone could do with any kind of help is to be a better person,” Charles told the students, who were accompanied by their parents at the Basil’s Restaurant and Bar in Kingstown.

“As long as you make yourself a better person through the help we give you, that’s fine. You don’t have to be a doctor or a lawyer, but you need to do something with the help you get, and you need to do something positive to help yourself and your parents and siblings to make your family and yourself better. That’s what our programme is about, to make you better.”

The chair acknowledged that though times are “guava crop” all around, the Foundation remained dedicated to helping students and parents with the children’s education.

He admonished the parents to be attentive to their children’s schoolwork, to ensure that the students do their best, and cautioned them to use the scholarship funding for the purpose for which it was designed.

“We would like everybody to understand that the money we are giving is for the kids.

“I know sometimes there are people who have more than one kid may be tempted to take the money and do other things. We didn’t give it for that; the money that we give to that scholarship is to go towards helping one kid.”

The businessman boasted that since the Foundation was established 19 years ago, it has assisted close to 300 children with scholarships and bursaries.

He pointed out that the first scholarship recipient, Rosbert Humphrey, is currently employed at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and completed his Master of Science degree in finance in 2009.

The Foundation is also involved in school feeding programmes in a number of secondary schools, and is affiliated to a number of early childhood education centres around St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The scholarship recipients for 2014 are Jennifer Kathleen Jacobs, Brunette Williams and Anwon Dells, while Rayshorn Dickson and Kyla Simmons received bursaries.

The new scholarship recipients bring the number of students currently in the programme to 33.(JJ)