IN JAMAICA: Careers & Education Grace Kennedy puts over $52 million into education.....Executive Director of the GraceKennedy Foundation, Caroline Mahfood said "I wish we could do more, because the need is so great."

Sunday, March 30, 2014    

DESPITE the tough economic climate which existed in 2013, GraceKennedy, through its GraceKennedy Foundation and Grace and Staff Community Development Foundation, invested over $52 million in education and education-related expenses last year.

GraceKennedy Foundation bursary recipients listen intently
 to pharmacist and former GraceKennedy Foundation bursary
 recipient Dr Tonoya Toyloy-Williams at the 2013
 ceremony where they were officially awarded.

Of that sum, the Grace Kennedy Foundation, established in 1982 to mark the company's 60th anniversary, invested some $32.6 million in scholarships and bursaries at the University of the West Indies, University of Technology and the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, among other institutions. The foundation also provided grants to several schools as part of refurbishment or improvement projects. Listed also among its major expenses was its public Annual lecture series. Ten million dollars was also allotted for the two chairs funded by the foundation at the University of the West Indies in Environmental Development and Management Studies.

Through the assistance given at the tertiary and secondary levels, skills training, student support, student medical and its five homework centres, the company's community outreach arm, the Grace and Staff Community Development Foundation, invested some $19.54 million. Unlike the GraceKennedy Foundation which is corporate-endowed, Grace and Staff's expenses are covered by voluntary contributions from GraceKennedy staff members, which are then matched two to one by the company. The Foundation also stages its annual Education Run, with proceeds going to the furtherance of inner-city education programmes. Grace and Staff was established in 1979 in response to the social and economic conditions existing in inner-city communities.

"We are happy to make a difference," said Executive Director of the GraceKennedy Foundation, Caroline Mahfood. "I wish we could do more, because the need is so great." more