MONTEGO BAY, St James

Two lucky patrons were the recipients of scholarships courtesy of telecommunications giant, Columbus Communications, operator of Flow and Columbus Business Solutions.

Last Thursday, the beneficiaries who were among the more than 2,000 persons who turned out at the Flow/Discovery Back-to-School Fair at the Old Hospital Park complex collected their cheques totalling $100,000.

It was the second staging of the event which saw a significant increase in the number of patrons over last year’s inaugural staging.

Robert Graham, a member of the King’s Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Montego Bay, took a group of 15 children with him to the event. He was one of the lucky winners of a $50,000 scholarship.

“We got there late because of the rain, but I managed to give in my stub and mine was picked,” said Graham.

The winning stubs were selected after patrons completed the back of their tickets and dropped it in a raffle drum at the fair.

Graham has been mentoring children in the community for years and carried many of his mentees to the back-to-school fair.

He said the grant will go a far way in “helping not just one, but many children under my watch.”

“I will try to stretch it for them; I had given them some back- to- school items such as books, pens, and pencil sharpeners, and so I will use that [$50,000] to help them some more,” he said.

He added: “I think the Flow Back- to- School Fair is very important because a lot of people really can’t afford it and these children that I work with their parents really couldn’t afford everything they wanted, so I’m going to use this to assist them.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by Sonia Walters, mother of Andreana Brown, who won the second scholarship of $50,000. “It will do a lot. I have so many books for her for grade 8 and I didn’t have it. I appreciate what I got from Flow,” she said.

Walters argued that there is a great burden on many parents to deal with back-to- school expenses and suggested that the fair be taken to other communities in western Jamaica over several days next year.

Nicole Campbell, sponsorship manager at Flow, declared the event a major success. She said the company is pleased with the overall execution of the event and the support of the entire city of Montego Bay.

“Flow is happy that there was tremendous growth in the number of people we were able to serve. We are committed to Jamaica. It speaks to the love for our products and the growth of our brand. As a family brand we aim to give back to our communities and we are happy that the people of Montego Bay allowed us to serve them,” said Campbell.

The event, which was free of cost, saw children being treated to free haircuts and an improved Health and Wellness zone featuring medicals.

The broadband company teamed up with the Discovery Channel to host the event, and the loveable mascot Dokie was on hand to entertain the children.