CONNECTING GUYANESE ADVENTIST professionals IN NEW JERSEY
Simone McGowan, Director of Education
GUYANA NEWS
Frank Daniels, Chaplain
Neeland Enniss, Treasurer
Our Mission
Errol English, President
Meet our leadership team.
Conrad McPherson, 2nd Vice President - Fundraising & Public Relations
A Seventh-day Adventist based organization, of Guyanese and friends intent on progressing themselves here in the USA and who are working to advance the cause of God in Guyana and New Jersey.
Our History
Roxanne Lambert, Assistant General Secretary
In the spring of 2005 it was decided that ‘now was the time’ to move forward decisively; and under the leadership of Peter Mason and Ronald Sullivan, a meeting was called for June 4th at the Berean SDA Church in Newark, New Jersey (where Elder Ivor Keizer was the Pastor at the time). The meeting was well attended by excited and interested Guyanese and friends and included the presence of the then President of the Guyana Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Pastor Philip Bowman.
At the June 4th meeting the attendees formally voted three key items to kick the organization into gear, so to speak:
To establish a New Jersey association of Guyanese SDAs
To establish a 7-member ‘Founding Committee’
To elect the following individuals to comprise the ‘Founding Committee’: Elizabeth Enniss, David Forrester, Pastor Carl Hinds, Peter Mason, John Patterson, Liz Rorie, Ronald Sullivan. (Neeland Enniss served in place of Elizabeth Enniss)
The Founding Committee quickly met on June 16th, and under the chairmanship of Peter Mason established a number of goals and objectives for the fledging organization.
The Founding Committee expanded and evolved to a Steering Committee and now comprised the original Founding Committee members as well as other members of the Guyanese Adventist community in New Jersey, thereby giving a wider voice, breath and perspective to the organization.
Members who were added to form the Steering Committee included:
Errol English, Frank Daniels, Dr. Audrey Harte, Pastor Ivor Keizor, Joan Perry, David Forrester, Alex Simon, Stanley Lambert, and Marvin DeVelde.
The Steering Committee continued its work during the remainder of 2005 and into 2006, and with the support, input and concurrence of the members at large, the following initiatives, decisions and step were taken:
The Guyanese Adventist Progressive Organization, (“GUYPRO”) was incorporated in the State of New Jersey on December 2, 2005.
A Constitution and By-Laws committee was duly elected and GUYPRO’s constitution and by laws were voted.
Elected (by the membership) the Officers of the organization.
The first set of elected officers of GUYPRO were as follows:
Pastor Carl Hinds, President
John Patterson, 1st Vice President – Membership & Attendance
Peter Mason, 2nd Vice President - Fundraising
Ronald Sullivan, General Secretary
Neeland Enniss, Treasurer
Marvin DeVelde, Vice President - Education
Errol English, Vice President – Public Affairs & Public Relations
David Forrester, Vice President – Religious Affairs and Guyana
Conference/SDA Organization Liaison
Audrey Harte-Cook, Vice President – Social & Cultural Affairs
Alex Simon, Parliamentarian
Other members who’ve lent extraordinary support to GUYPRO, at different times over the years, include Joan Field and Samuel Dover.
To the glory of God, three successful Guyana Day Programs were launched in 2006, 2007 and 2008 at the St. Matthew’s AME Church in Orange New Jersey. GUYAPRO has just concluded its fourth successful Guyana Day celebration on August 14, 2010 at the Orange United Methodist Church in Orange, New Jersey.
For fund raising efforts two Men Who Cook affairs brought in significant funds and generated even more fun as some men who never knew how to turn on a stove bravely stood next to mouth watering dishes with aprons, exhibiting their (still) dormant talents.
Officers
Guyanese adventist progressive org.
June Boyce, General Secretary
ABOUT GUYAPRO
GUYPRO really had its genesis in the hopes and dreams of the Guyanese Adventists who were members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church of the Oranges, in Orange, New Jersey. These members, along with friends and well-wishers (both Guyanese and non-Guyanese) from other New Jersey Adventist churches, had, for a number of years prior to 2005, expressed the desire to formally establish an organization or association to contribute to the upliftment of the Guyanese population, particularly those of the Seventh-day Adventist faith.