Side By Side, partners reach out to needy families

By Samsideen Ceesay Side By Side Organisation with support from its U.S partners on Friday reached out to underprivileged Gambian families by providing them with humanitarian relief assistance The organisation donated bags of rice and gallons of cooking oil to families in Bakau, Kanifing and Ebo Town. The initiative, launched by Heather Daniel, a U.S based philanthropist and founder of New Hope Academy the Gambia, was meant to enhance livelihood of the beneficiary families. Handing over the donation, the National Coordinator of Side By Side, Hatab Fadera, said the food stuffs will enhance the daily sustenance of the beneficiaries, especially during this time of uncertainty. He pointed out that the beneficiaries were carefully selected, and commended the donor for raising the money. Underscoring the importance of neighborliness, the SBSO boss stressed that people should always remember each other especially during moments of difficulty. “This is just a token of donation that we are doing for the families who are very vulnerable in the Gambian society,” he said. He added: “We want to thank Heather Daniel a very dynamic person residing in the United States of America for the initiative in raising this money within a very short period of time. The food stuffs donated to the families will go a long way in supplementing the daily sustenance of the families.” Malang Keita, assistant program officer of Side by Side hailed the donor friend from the USA for coming to aid of the beneficiaries especially those in need. He pointed out that a bag of rice and oil can go at least for two weeks for a sizeable family adding that the reason why they giving out the food stuff are to help those who are badly in need of support. Lamin Sawaneh, admin and finance officer, SBSO, said ‘we are here to gives out food stuffs to people we are all the same, no tribalism’. The duo thanked Heather Daniel for the initiative and Beverly Berndt for also supporting the worthy cause.]]>