Fundraising Event for KPMSFT on June 10

The Karen Peart Memorial Scholarship Foundation Trust (KPMSFT) will host its biennial major fundraising event on Sunday, June 10.

There will be two concerts by the University Singers, under the distinguished patronage of Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, at the Phillip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, University of the West Indies (UWI), at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

Since 1996, the KPMSFT has been providing financial assistance to young people who are active in the Moravian Church in Jamaica, who are pursuing their academic goals in tertiary and secondary institutions.

The Foundation is in memory of Karen Rosalind Yolonda Peart, first daughter of the Rev. Justin Leonard Peart (deceased) and his wife Lucinda Beverly Peart, retired principal of Bethlehem Moravian College, now Associate Professor at Northern Caribbean University.

Mrs. Peart, who chairs the Foundation, said the KPMSFT is committed to enabling a lifelong sustainable education fund for Moravian youth. She indicated that the goal is to create an Endowment Fund of $25 million in 10 years (2015-2025).

Reflecting on her late daughter, Mrs. Peart said that “[Karen] epitomised the heart of the Moravian Church’s thrust for missions through Christianity and education”.

“That’s why we celebrate her as we raise funds continually to gift Jamaica’s youth with the blend of spiritual and academic learning,” she added.

Karen succumbed to scleroderma in 1994, weeks short of her 28th birthday. Over the past 22 years a total of 60 awards have been made, and the awardees are all leaders in their respective fields locally and internationally.

Patrice Tomlinson-Nephew, a member of the KPMSFT Board of Trustees since 2014 and currently the Communications/Social Marketing Coordinator at the Ministry of National Security’s Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP), is a past beneficiary of the scholarship.

Mrs. Tomlinson-Nephew said she is forever grateful for the scholarship, which she describes as having come at the “right time” in her life while she was pursuing her first degree in 1999.

She lauded the KPMSFT for the indelible mark that it has placed on her life and so many other youth. She is, therefore, encouraging everyone to support the fundraising effort as the Trust seeks to make a difference in many more lives.