SIXTY-THREE students last week received scholarships totalling $440,000 from the Hope Gospel Assembly in recognition of their achievements at the primary and high school examination levels.
The students who scored an average of 70 per cent and above in their class, GSAT and CXC examinations, came from the communities of Gordon Town, Kintyre, Elletson Flats, Sandy Park, Stand Pipe, Trench Town, Rockfort, and Mountain View in the Corporate Area.The students received from $5,000 to $20,000 towards back- to-school purchases and tuition fees.“We gave out 63 scholarships this year, which is less than last year,” senior pastor at the Hope Gospel Assembly Rev Peter Garth said, following the informal awards ceremony held on the church grounds, Old Hope Road two Saturdays ago.“Last year we gave out over 80 [scholarships] at a value of slightly over $600,000. This year it was cut back to $440,000.”The cutback, he explained, was not intentional but as a result of not having as many sponsors as in prior years due to economic constraints.However, there were companies which, and individuals who rose to the challenge at the last minute, following a Jamaica Observer article published on Tuesday, August 13, which highlighted the plight of the church, prior to the distribution of the scholarships on Saturday of that week.Among the individuals making contributions was one man from Dubai, located in the United Arab Emirates, who took up the challenge after reading the article. He gave $130,000.“The person in Dubai said he is willing to help further, but could not do more because of the short notice,” Rev Garth said. “Many of our sponsors rose to the challenge to assist us with scholarships. Other sponsors were from Cayman, Boston, Alabama, and New York.”Among the list of sponsors were Rev Garth’s daughter, Charlene Garth Kampert and her husband Mark, who reside in Boston.“The biggest sponsor of the back-to-school scholarship for this year is Charlene Garth,” he told the gathering, after explaining the near miss event. “She contributed more than the companies. Her heart is still right here in Jamaica.”The Kamperts contributed $150,000.Companies which awarded scholarships were Jamaica Broilers and Jamaica National Building Society.Individual scholarships were donated by Winston Robinson, Nadine Tufton, Dr Neil and Carolyn Gardener, Bruce Scott, Paula and Carlton Rhoden, Jonathon Garth, Dr Billy Foster, Charlene and Mark Kampert, Kerry-Ann Walker, Keisha Green, Pat Reid, Glen Burke, Davian Cotchwell, Pauline Powell and Emily Rose.Among the recipients were Andrea Allen from Campion College who received the Charlene and Mark Tampert scholarship, valued at $20,000 after earning nine ones in her CXC subjects, and her schoolmate Shaina Ferguson who received the Billy Foster scholarship also valued at $20,000, after scoring seven ones and one two in her CXC exams.Ferguson, who is from Kintyre, attends Campion College. She scored grade one in Biology, English Language, English Literature, Technical Drawing, Accounts, Art and Mathematics, and a grade two in Spanish.“I wish we could do more for these children,” Rev Garth said after handing over the cheque to Ferguson. “We at Hope Gospel believe in those who are doing well.”Also receiving a scholarship was a child whose mother called a radio station the day before the ceremony, asking for help for her child to go back to school.“My wife heard it and she called me at the 11th hour to say you have to do something for this lady. And I called the radio station and I said yes, we are going to do something for her son.He too received the Charlene and Mark Kampert scholarship valued at $20,000.“He is a special case and we plan to follow-up with help,” he told the Jamaica Observer afterwards. “In fact we plan on giving him another scholarship for another $20,000,” he said.Despite the challenges, Rev Garth said that he refused to cancel the event.“I refused to cancel the event, and my philosophy is no matter how small it is we will see how much we can give out,” he said.The scholarships were given away during a back-to-school fair in which children were presented with GSAT books, school supplies, exercise and reading books, khaki uniforms and school bags.“We had close to 1,000 packages, bags and so forth,” Rev Garth said. But we will have another round in September because we have bags that are on the way into Jamaica, so a few more hundred persons will benefit with bags, books and the regular school items in those bags. Edu-pack in Altanta contributed 1,600 bags but they did not make it in time,” he said.“And those who have got scholarships for the second or third time they have done well and that says that we are doing something that is right,” he said.“We want to thank God that individuals came through this year (as sponsors). We start at the primary school, we looked at grades five and six and into high schools, but a lot of sponsors want to focus on those leaving the primary going into high schools — like first formers,” he explained.“And then we take on a few others, but we don’t go beyond high school. We may throughout the year help university students and UTECH students to buy books here and there but this is the actual fair. But throughout the year we assist children to go back to school. We have been having the back-to-school fair for five years. But for the past 20 something years we have been helping people with back to school. But it got so large that we decided to turn it into a fair.Sponsors of the day’s event were Digicel, Lime, Jamaica Broilers, National Commercial Bank, Kingston Bookshop, Ligunea Drug and Garden Centre and Tent City.A number of parents and children turned out at the Hope Gospel Assembly back-to-school fair held two Saturdays ago, during which 63 students received scholarships totalling $440,000. (PHOTO: MICHAEL GORDON)
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63 benefit from Hope Gospel project
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