The Forgotten Youth Foundation Boxing Gym yesterday received support from Harris Paints towards its extension and rehabilitation project.
Marketing and Operations Manager of Harris Paints, Cort Taylor, confirmed the company’s donation of the paint required to cover the entire interior of the gym as the company handed over the paint during a press conference yesterday at its office on Water Street.
Taylor expressed the company’s joy at investing in the gym’s drive to enhance its facilities, which aims at helping youths in the community, and affirmed the company’s devotion towards giving back to the people.
Receiving the donation was one of the gym’s coaches, Sebert Blake. Blake conveyed his appreciation to the company for their donation towards the project that the gym has undertaken.
Blake also extended his gratitude to the president of the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association who was the force behind the donation by the company.
“On behalf of the Forgotten Youth Foundation I just want to say thank you to Harris Paints for this donation to help us to do the internal painting of the gym, to embark on this aspect of the project aimed at enhancing the appeal of the gym. And also I want to thank Steve Ninvalle who made the necessary arrangements to make it all possible,” Blake said.
Blake also disclosed that with the gym’s membership steadily rising, the gym’s administrators saw it necessary to take on a project to extend and rehabilitate it.
“We started the project because we want to give the gym some more space. I don’t know if it is because of how well Guyana has been doing in boxing all over the world, but lately there has been an upsurge in the sport and a lot of youths have been joining the gym.
“There was a toilet and bath that was inside of the gym, and now we are putting that outside so that we can extend the interior of the gym. We haven’t started that part as yet because it is as we get the support that we do the work,” Blake related.
He took the opportunity to encourage businesses to get on board and make investments in the sport that has brought Guyana great recognition over the years. He pointed out too that the location of the gym is ideal for advertising and interested companies can utilize the advantage.
Blake said that the project had begun approximately a month and a half ago, beginning with the resurfacing of the floor, compliments of donations from Vice President of the GABA, Maurice Rajkumar, who donated sand and cement.
The gym is located at the corner of James and Albert streets, Albouystown, and has over the years been the base of several of Guyana’s most prominent boxers.
It also lays claim to the emergence of Women’s International Boxing Association Bantamweight World title holder, Shondell Alfred, as well as 2010 Central America and the Caribbean Games bronze medallists, Dexter Jordan and Mervin Ageda who will be participating tonight in this month’s edition of the Friday Night Fights.
