GraceKennedy (GK) has invested more than $50 million in back-to-school support ahead of the start of the 2022/2023 academic year, as the group continues its 100th-anniversary celebrations.

The philanthropic gesture is led by GK Foundation (GKF) and the Grace and Staff Community Development Foundation (Grace and Staff), the group explained in a news release.

This year, GKF awarded 90 scholarships to tertiary students at The University of the West Indies (UWI), University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech), Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, and Caribbean Maritime University, valued at more than $24.2 million.

In August GKF also awarded $2.1 million in bursaries for the upcoming school year to 23 children of GK team members through the annual Carlton Alexander Memorial bursary programme.

The foundation has exceeded its target of awarding 100 scholarships and bursaries as a part of GK’s 100th anniversary celebrations.

Commenting on the support GK offers for students and their families during the back-to-school period, GK Group CEO Don Wehby said, “I firmly believe that education should be a right and not a privilege, and I am fortunate to lead an organisation that supports this belief. Each year GK strives to increase our support for education where possible. Education changed my life and I believe it can and will do the same for our beneficiaries. We wish them all a successful and productive academic year.”

Carlene Gonzalis, mother of Sashell Miller, one of GKF’s most recent scholarship recipients, said “Sashell and I are so happy for this scholarship that we cried tears of joy. We could not get a student loan for various reasons and so you can imagine how grateful I am that GraceKennedy is assisting Sashell by awarding her this scholarship.”

Miller, who attends UTech, received the GraceKennedy UTech Merit Scholarship, valued at $200,000.

Two weeks ago GKF also donated three laptops to university students and will donate an additional 19 laptops to students before the end of September with a total value of $3.1 million, the group reported.

It also said that GKF’s Campus Connect Food Bank, which offers ongoing nutritional support to university students in need, recently donated food items valued at more than $300,000 to UTech’s ‘Week of Welcome’ for its new and returning students, and snacks valued at $169,000 courtesy of World Brands Services to halls of residence on UWI’s Mona campus.

Meanwhile, Grace and Staff has added 194 students to its annual tuition assistance programme. A total $22 million has been committed to cover tuition expenses for 1284 secondary and tertiary students this academic year.

“Last year, ahead of schedule, we exceeded our goal of Grace and Staff supporting 1,000 students in time for our 100th anniversary — and I am very pleased that we have been able to add even more students this year,” the release quotes Wehby, who is also chairman of Grace and Staff.

“The work being done to advance education in Jamaica by our GK Foundation and Grace and Staff foundation — under the leadership of their CEOs Caroline Mahfood and Sandrina Davis [, respectively] — is truly inspiring. I am looking forward to adding even more students to all the educational assistance programmes being delivered by both foundations and across our group in 2023 and beyond,” added Wehby.

Through its foods and financial divisions GK also supported back-to-school community fairs with cash and in-kind donations. Coming out of the 2022 staging of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Championships, Grace Foods also awarded cash prizes, tablets, and nutritional support for the 2022/23 school year to eight secondary schools, valued at more than $2.5 million.