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GraceKennedy sets $3m Education Run target

Published:Friday | June 17, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Senator Desmond McKenzie (right), mayor of Kingston, in discussion with Douglas Orane (second right), chairman and CEO of GraceKennedy. Also in the picture are Don Wehby (left), chief operation officer of GraceKennedy and Neville McCook, secretary general, Jamaica Olympic Association. Occasion was the launch of the GraceKennedy Education 5K Run 2011 at Institute of Jamaica Lecture Hall, downtown Kingston on Wednesday. - Rudolph Brown/Photographer

THE GRACEKENNEDY Education Run is aiming to raise $3 million this year to assist inner-city youths to pursue their academic goals.

Last year, the event raised approximately $2.8 million up from $1.6 million in 2009.

Speaking at the launch of the event at the Institute of Jamaica in Kingston on Wednesday, deputy chairman of the planning committee, Mark Anderson said the activity supports the continued educational development of secondary level students.

He added that the students are chosen from the company's homework centres located within Kingston's inner-city communities.

"History has proven time and again that intellectual capital is the most valuable of all the factors of production. Additionally, investing in a person's education is the surest way of transforming him or her from the strictures and challenges of the inner city and poverty," he said.

Student thankful

Josette Ricketts is one of the hundreds of persons receiving assistance from the Grace and Staff Community Development Foundation and she continues to give thanks for the blessings.

The sixth-form student of St George's College describes herself as a successful product of the GraceKennedy's programme.

"I am very thankful for the programme because it has helped me to reach this far. I know I wouldn't be in sixth form heading to university, because money would be my biggest problem," said Ricketts who resides in Waltham Park Avenue, Kingston.

The Grace and Staff Community Development Foundation was established 31 years ago to address social and economic issues in the inner city.

The GraceKennedy Education Run 2010 will take place downtown Kingston on Sunday, July 17, at 7 a.m.

Registration is $800 for individuals and $700 for teams of 50 or more persons.