FOR the dream of children who are victims of misfortunes to come to a reality, especially in the area of education, public-spirited individuals and organisations must as a matter of urgency come to the aid of such children.

These were the words of the Chairman, Board of Trustees of Grace Usi Care Trust Fund for Needy Children, Mr. Rebo Usman Ehwan.

The Grace Usi Trust Fund was designed to cater for students and pupils who are schooling in Grace Junior Academy as well as Rhema Christian Academy, who had lost their parents or sponsors and are at the verge of dropping out of school.

The said trust fund, located in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, has gone a long way to make children who would have been roaming the streets to be in the four walls of the classroom in the said schools.

The Board of Trustees chairman, who stated this at a dinner organised in honour of the graduating students and pupils of the schools, said the dream of the board is to continue to put smiles on the faces of the less-privileged children who have decided to run to the schools for refuge.

According to him: “It will also be appreciated that in order to sustain the two schools that cater for the education of these young ones, it will be necessary to attract the envisaged support from the public spirited individuals and organisations.”

Taking the audience down memory lane, he said no fewer than 96 pupils and students are “still benefitting from the fund.”

Glad that beneficiaries of the fund, some of whom have graduated and are in various institutions across the country, have not let the schools down, he stressed the need for the public to invest in the fund, as this would go along way to put smiles on the faces of children from disadvantaged homes.

The Executive Director of the schools, Christiana R. Ehwan, who enumerated the achievements of the schools at both national and zonal levels, said the leadership of the school in spite of the dwindling resources would continue to “give 100 per cent scholarship to children in our host community who are identified in consultation with the community as the poorest of the poor.”

Some of the beneficiaries, who spoke with The Guardian, said their future would have been gloomy had the leadership of the schools and the board not deemed it fit to come to their rescue.

The Guardian learnt that the schools, which were established 15 years ago, have students and pupils in the nooks and crannies of the country who are at the moment benefitting from the said scheme.