RECORDING gospel artiste and founder of Healthy Music Group Rondell Allen, who goes by the stage name Rondell Positive, said proceeds from this month’s staging of the annual Heart Praise Worship Fest will be used to expand the Great Start Scholarship to include two schools in Portland.

This is in addition to those primarily schools in St Thomas which are currently benefitting from the two-year scholarships.

Members of the St Thomas-based Healthy Music Group, which comprises young Christian men and women, have been positively impacting the lives of St Thomas residents, having made good on their promise to use proceeds from the event to provide scholarships for some Grade Six Achievement Test students.

Last year six students from Airy Castle, Morant Bay, Yallahs, Trinityville, and Golden Grove primary schools received scholarships valued at $30,000 each. The recipients were selected based on their academic achievements, economic needs and good behaviour.

This year Allen said recipients will be selected from six different schools in the parish namely Lystra, Wilmington, Dalvey, Morant Bay, and White Horses primary schools and Bath All Age.

The beneficiaries for Portland will be selected from Manchioneal All Age and Rural Hill Primary.

Proceeds from this years event will also be used to expand another of the group’s initiative dubbed Care A Hair — a project which offers haircuts to young boys who are unable to afford it.

Allen said the group will also be embarking on a raising more funds as they seek to invest further in the lives of young people in the eastern parish.

In addition to a fund-raiser awards banquet, the group will be hosting a Heart Praise Education Walk/Run in St Thomas on Heroes Day.

According to Allen, proceeds from the walk/run will go towards establishing a special education centre at Morant Bay Primary.

“There are many students who need that because these are gifted children and they need special attention,” he said, adding that, he has already begun soliciting the assistance of people who work with autistic children.

Allen said he is extremely pleased that sections of corporate Jamaica have also come on board to assist with the project.

“I would love to thank First Heritage Cooperative Credit Union who are on board this year for Heart Praise and the National Commercial Bank Foundation which has supported us over the years with the Care A Hair project as well as Phidds Furniture and Appliances in Morant Bay and Supermix Distributors who has been with us since 2008,” he said.

The sixth staging of Heart Praise Worship Fest, a family event, will be held at Colonel Cove in the parish on Labour Day and will feature gospel artistes such as Kevin Downswell, Jermaine Edwards, Rondell Positive, Jermaine Gordon, Perpetual Praise, Kimola Brown, Dunamis Reignz and several other artistes.

Allen said he is hoping to rake in a $1 million in proceeds to inject into the projects this year.

“We are in a position where our goal is to lead Jamaica towards being prosperous and being a better place, so we are hoping that people from all over the island will see the vision and support it as education is the key to pulling out purpose out of an individual,” he said.

–Ingrid Brown