By Francine Black, Staff ReporterTWO STUDENTS of the Annotto Bay High School, Gaylem Mohalland and Venecia Martin of Enfield, St. Mary, were recently selected as beneficiaries of a scholarship and grant established in memory of Reverend Gladstone George Ferguson, a former community stalwart.
Gaylem received the scholarship while Venecia was presented with the grant.
Gaylem was awarded the Father Gladstone Scholarship for being the most outstanding GSAT student at Annotto Bay where he is a seventh grader. The scholarship will defray all school related expenses for the year.
"The scholarship was presented as a mark of respect and in recognition of a great man," the Ministry of Education which is in charge of the scholarship said.
Venecia, a grade nine student, was awarded the Gladstone Ferguson Memorial Grant which is given to a needy student with a good academic record. The grant which is valued at $5,000 will go towards paying school related expenses.
The St. John's Trinitarian Baptist Church which was pastored by Reverend Ferguson, wanted to do something in remembrance of its leader who made invaluable contributions to the community.
In keeping with this decision, the church started to raise funds for a scholarship as its way of remembering its "noble spiritual and community leader". The scholarship was however taken over by the Ministry which also wanted to honour the Reverend.
The grant was strongly supported by Harry Douglas, Member of Parliament for the area who contributed enough for the church to pay this year's instalment without using the funds it had raised. This has left enough money for expansion of the programme to cater to four more students for the current school year.
'Father Gladstone' as he was affectionately called by members of his church and community, passed away on December 25, 2002. As an ordained Minister of another religion, Father Gladstone broke away and formed his own church, where caring for the poor and needy was high on his agenda.
He built homes in the church yard to shelter the homeless, poor and needy in the community. The site which later became known as 'Mount Refuge' was also where such individuals were clothed and fed.
He also held regular treats for the children in the community in January each year, where they would receive a hot meal, ice-cream, snacks and back-to-school supplies.
The church has opened an account at the National Commercial Bank (NCB) where persons wishing to make contributions to the fund for the grant can do so. The account number is 784013499.
