MONTEGO BAY, St James — Basketball coaching from professional NBA players, acting workshops with popular young black actors, and an introduction to American Football by NFL players were just a few of the activities in which more than 350 youngsters from across the island were engaged at UWI, Mona, Western Campus during the recent RuJohn Foundation Celebrity Sports Camp.

Some 30 sports and entertainment celebrities participated in the event.

The RuJohn Foundation was established in 2003 in honour of Ruth and John Tulloch, the Jamaican grandparents of CEO and President Andrew and Christina Bachelor.

Ruth and John taught their children to help others, especially those who are not always able to help themselves.

To commemorate their memory, Andrew and Christina started the foundation with the aim to inspire youth to work hard to achieve their goals and to become good citizens of their country. Also, with the assistance and involvement of sports and entertainment mentors, they are able to teach the youth the importance of hard work and perseverance.

“We first started when we were teenagers because we wanted to give back and stay in touch with our Jamaican roots,” said Christina Bachelor, speaking of how she and her brother came to establish the RuJohn Foundation.

“Even though we were not born here, we are part of the Jamaican Diaspora and we want to ensure we make a contribution to the island. At first we started by making small donations, and over the years it has gotten bigger and bigger.

The RuJohn Foundation — in its earlier years — was a small programme that gave school supplies, computers and other donations to specific communities. Over the years, with the support of partners such as Wisynco, the foundation has grown and is now able to host camps for hundreds of young Jamaicans and each year give ten students tertiary scholarships valued between $200,000 and $500,000.

“For Wisynco, this partnership with the RuJohn Foundation is very natural, as their goals are consistent with our own aims and values to ensure we contribute to building strong and sustainable communities in Jamaica,” said Chrys-Ann Crawford, brand marketing assistant at the distribution company.

“We are proud of our work with young people in schools across the island, and are delighted that we were able to bring students from Kingston to Montego Bay to have the invaluable experience of engaging and learning from the celebrities.

Wisynco brought basketball players from St Catherine High School to Montego Bay to participate in the basketball coaching camp led by professional basketball player Andray Blatche. The company also provided hydration throughout the day for all the participants with their products WATA, CranWATA and PowerAde. “Wisynco is a key link in Jamaica, and their invaluable contribution enables us to refresh the students while they are at the camp and provide their t-shirts. Ultimately,

this enables us to allocate more resources to the scholarship programme,” said Christina.

Basketball player Blatche was among the 30 sports and entertainment celebrities that participated in the camp this year. Others were actors Bresha Webb (Grey’s Anatomy) Dule Hill (The West Wing, HBO’s Ballers), Lance Gross (Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns and Temptations: Confessions of Marriage Counsellor), Aisha Hinds (HawthoRNe, HBO’s True Blood); Darius Butler (NFL team Indianapolis Colts) and Tony Carter (NFL Team Denver Broncos).