THE VM Foundation and the National Leadership Prayer Breakfast Committee have handed over $800,000 to the beneficiary of this year’s breakfast, the Educate to Elevate community outreach programme – a back-to-school initiative of the Hope Gospel Assembly.

Of the sums gifted to the project, $500,000 was donated by the VM Foundation, while $305,000 was raised through offerings collected during the 44th staging of the National Leadership Prayer Breakfast in January.

The handover was done in a ceremony at VM Group’s Half-Way-Tree corporate office on Wednesday.

Courtney Campbell, CEO of the VM Group, congratulated Hope Gospel Assembly on the back-to-school initiative, which has continued to expand its impact each year and has been a source of support to parents and students in the community.

“VM Group is in the business of transforming lives and we recognise that that is also the mission of this project. I believe that if we want to transform Jamaica, we must transform education.

“If we are going to transform education, we will have to transform access to education; as well as the preparation for and promotion of education so the community can understand the value of the resources being provided,” said Campbell.

In the meantime, the Rev Samuel McCook, chairman of the National Leadership Prayer Breakfast Committee, said it was careful in selecting a worthy initiative that it is confident will have meaningful impact.

“Hope Gospel Assembly has established a level of excellence in what it does, and we commend them. We know that the contribution that we give, with the substantial support of VM, will enhance their work with this project,” said McCook.

In welcoming the donation the Rev Dr Peter Garth, pastor at the Hope Gospel Assembly, said the breakfast has made the project more visible and extended gratitude to the National Leadership Prayer Breakfast Committee, the VM Group and the VM Foundation for the continued support.

Educate to Elevate was started in 1994 to provide assistance with bus fares and school fees for students of the church community, before expanding to a back-to-school fair in 2009, providing a range of school supplies, scholarships and grants.

The 2024 National Leadership Prayer Breakfast was hosted on January 18 under the theme: ‘Choose Hope: Arise & Build’, with funding from the VM Group.

Last year, the programme’s beneficiary was the Student’s Fellowship and Christian Union (SFCU), which received a $700,000 donation through the collaboration with the VM Foundation; while in 2022, the Clifton Boys’ Home received a donation of $750,000.