BANNAS FOUNDATION INC.
Website made and designed by the Carribean Kids Talk Club (Imani and Nia Walcott) !
 
 

 
 
Welcome to the home of Bannas Foundation !

 

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the Bannas Foundation, a Non-Profit organization in the United States and a Non-Governmental organization in Guyana, is to promote youth and community development by providing a reliable, organized means of participation in a range of recreational and social activities in the United States and Guyana.

BANNAS FOUNDATION BACKGROUND
 
Sports Development
The Bannas Foundation has been in existence since 1997. The founders of the organization, Keith “Roddy” Walcott, Kevin “Jahman” Walcott, Johnny “Overseas” Barnwell and Clarence “Starry” Coleridge, who have all been involved in the development of sports in Guyana in varying aspects, felt the need to contribute in some way to the development of the youth of Guyana.  Thus, it is not surprising that the Bannas Foundation chose the arena of sports development to introduce the organization to the public of Guyana.  As we progressed, we decided to become more diverse in our mission, and focus on community, as well as youth, development through recreational and social activities.
Community Development
In 1999, our mission was expanded to include community development because we felt it necessary to do something about the kids playing basketball and football in the Meadowbrook streets.  A dangerous activity for both driver and players, it was this same problem that had galvanized the youths of the Meadowbrook Community twenty –five years earlier.  Twenty –five years ago, the Meadowbrook Boys and Girls Club had actively campaigned to have a recreational field erected in their community.  The club had attempted clearing the ground themselves, but to no avail. They held fundraisers to raise the necessary capital to have the field cleared by the National Parks Commission, but the success of having a playfield in the area still eluded the community.  Today, residential dwellings have been erected on the old playfield.  Therefore, the Bannas Foundation decided to undertake the responsibility of rehabilitating the Meadowbrook /Backlands playing field, another field in the adjoining Lodge Backlands community. This project coined the "Fields of Dreams Project" was our introduction to community development.

 

THE VISION OF BANNAS FOUNDATION

The vision of Bannas Foundation for the future is:

  • We are working on expanding the activities of Bannas Foundation (US). Until now it has primarily been a fundraising arm for the programs we have in Guyana. Now we are planning on hosting soccer clinics, and a summer camp in the Maryland area. We are also planning on hosting "recreation day" where we can have second generation Caribbean kids, and American kids meet and play together.
  • To take our knowledge of community and youth development that we have learned over the last seven years and share it with other communites. We envison a time when every community in Guyana has an active Boys and Girls club providing an array of recreational and sporting activities for the children in the community. We hope to work along with community leaders by showing them how to access the necessary resources to support their endeavour.
  • In addition, the Bannas Foundation would like to expand on the knowledge we have attained from rehabiltation the Field of Dreams and start a "Business Arm" of the organization providing landscaping and field services. We do not plan on being entirely dependent upon the public for monetary support, thus we will work very hard to be "self-sustaining". We are currently pricing a walk-behind mower and two weed whackers.
  • Also, we are working very hard at expanding the current sports and recreational programs in the Meadowbrook/Lodge Backlands community. We plan on starting a basketball program over the summer 2005. We have started a Friday night video progarm where we show instructional tapes of soccer, and past soccer games to the Meadowlands Mystics Boys and Girls Club. Beginning in May we are starting a Literacy program for the kids in the area that will focus on Reading and Storytime programs to complement the current shool curriculum.