Max Mart, CIMG Retail Outlet of the Year 2014, has signed a cheque to sponsor a class for a year for The Forgotten Foundation, a charity set up by award-winning Actress and Lawyer Yvonne Okyere to raise funds for the Kibi School for the Deaf.

The donation was made on Founder’s Day, 21st September 2015, which also marks National Volunteer Day. General Manager of Max Mart, Mr. Omar Naboulsi, presenting the cheque, lauded Yvonne Okyere for her bold step to take up such an initiative, which his company is proud to be associated with. Mr. Asheboi Mensah, Human Resource Manager of Max Mart also commended Yvonne and her team for the project.

The donation comes at a time when the Kibi School for the Deaf, established some 40 years ago, is struggling to meet the overwhelming demands of the school. The headmaster, Mr Castro Cudjoe, identified the school’s main priorities as provision of water storage system, a new catering facility and an urgent need for an on-site clinic to immediately attend to emergency situations with the children.

While the school struggles against funding shortfalls to provide these children with adequate education, food, shelter, clothing and other basic needs, The Forgotten Foundation intends to be a support system to help the school achieve this fully.

Yvonne Okyere receiving the cheque from General Manager of Max Mart, Mr. Omar Naboulsi

Yvonne Okyere receiving the cheque from General Manager of Max Mart, Mr. Omar Naboulsi Receiving the cheque, Yvonne Okyere who spearheads the foundation, expressed gratitude to Max Mart for their wonderful support to the Kibi School for the Deaf. “We are so pleased to have Max Mart on board and simply overwhelmed by their kind gesture towards this cause. We are very grateful to Max Mart for being one of the first corporations to donate to us.

This is the first step in a very long journey and obviously there’s a lot of work to be done so this should hopefully encourage other corporations and individuals to look favourably on the foundation and equally donate generously,” Yvonne said.

Yvonne Okyere spending time with some children from the Kibi School for the Deaf

She highlighted some of the challenges the school is facing as a result of the current economic climate and severe shortfall in government funding, and assured that the donation will go a long way to ease some of the burdens on the school.

Kibi School for the Deaf currently has 250 deaf and mute children, 24 teachers, 26 non-teaching staff and caters for children from five years to 20 years. Quite often these children are overlooked by their families, distressed and alone in their communities.

The Forgotten Foundation is Yvonne Okyere’s maiden charity project and it will be launched in December 2015 on the campus of Kibi School for the Deaf, in the Eastern Region. “I am confident that this is a worthy cause to be associated with as, not only would it feel good to have helped and changed lives in a positive way, but it would also bring smiles to the children’s faces,” says Yvonne.

Source: Alfred Sarpong I www.viasat1.com.gh