MONTEGO BAY, St James — A mother and daughter are among more than 3,500 recipients who have been able to pursue higher learning after receiving financial support from proceeds of the MoBay City Run.

The event, now in its eighth year, was recently renamed Jill Stewart City Run.

Marsha Rhodes Brown, a 48-year-old office attendant at University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) – Western Campus, and her daughter Shauntae Brown have on separate occasions benefited from the $26.5 million so far disbursed to beneficiaries from the run/walk.

Rhodes Brown, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business administration at UTech, told the Jamaica Observer that she received a bursary from the charity organisation in 2019. Her daughter Shauntae, who is studying nursing at the same institution, received a scholarship in 2023. The funding has been a huge help as Rhodes Brown has another daughter who is currently studying computer information and technology at UTech.

“I’m there at the University of Technology and students that came in or students that are there, I always tell them to apply for scholarship. ‘MoBay City Run is coming up!’ I have always told them that,” Rhodes Brown said.

“When I got the scholarship I was in so much difficulty as I was recently separated from my husband at the time when I decided to…study, and I didn’t have any financial help so it kind of pushed me to stand firm in my belief of education and it helped me a lot — a long way,” she added.

Shauntae has also been encouraging others to apply. She is also hoping she will again benefit this year.

“I am doing nursing, and it isn’t a cheap course. To find the funds was kind of difficult, and when I applied for MoBay City Run I didn’t know I was going to get through. They gave me a portion and it has really assisted me with tuition; it made me able to continue school. If it weren’t for them I would have to be paying a lot of money for tuition. I got it last year, [in] my second year of university. I will reapply when [the] application [process] is [once again] opened,” she added.

Students from across St James, Hanover, Westmoreland, and Trelawny have benefited from the charity run over the years. It will be held this year on May 5 and features a 5K walk, a 5K run, and a 10K run.

At Friday evening’s rebranding launch at S Hotel in Montego Bay it was revealed that in honour of Jill Stewart the letters ‘J’ and ‘S’ have been intricately placed in the new logo. At first look the logo appears to be in the shape of an ‘M’, to depict the city of Montego Bay.