Manchester High School past students launched an endowment fund on Saturday, March 25, 2023 and immediately received commitments totalling $11 million from 11 members.

The fund, which aims to raise J$100 million in its first year, will aid in development activities for both the students and teachers.

Making the announcement during the homecoming gala held at Golf View Hotel in Mandeville, past student, conceptualiser, and donor Dr Christopher Tufton said that the initiative was the very least he could do for an institution that profoundly impacted him.

“My time at Manchester High School was some of the best days of my life. Here I made lifelong friends, benefited from excellent teachers and developed in an environment where I felt confident that I could achieve anything I wanted,” he said.

Giving credit to the school for putting him in a position to achieve success in his life Tufton, the health minister, said “this is why this fund will be integral in ensuring that others benefit as well”.

The fund has started with an initial commitment of a combined $11 million from donors Dr Carl Bruce, Willard Brown, Keith Duncan, Marlon Grant, Gene Marshall, Errol McKenzie, Dean Peart, Simone Scarlett, Grantley Stephenson, Clive Wint, and Tufton himself.

It will be managed by a board comprising past students at a financial institution to be selected. Directors are: Dr Bruce, neurosurgeon and chief of staff, University Hospital of the West Indies; Stephenson, deputy chairman, Kingston Wharves; Brown, executive vice-president and actuary, Sagicor; and McKenzie, former executive vice-president, Sagicor.