Angella Whitter urges diaspora to assist tertiary students with scholarships
MONTEGO BAY, St James — Chair of the Joe and Angella Whitter Foundation, Angella Whitter, has appealed to the Diaspora to partner with the foundation in providing scholarships for tertiary level students in western Jamaica.
According to a release from the foundation, the appeal was made by Whitter recently, while speaking on a Diaspora Online show following the presentation of scholarships worth $2.9 million to 26 students from the region who are pursuing studies at some of the island’s universities.
“We are willing to acknowledge and share reports to all our donors. Jamaican students need help and they don’t want to go on another path to get it,” Whitter stressed, as she also appealed to Jamaicans to “let’s try to help these young people as best as we can.”
Speaking at the presentation ceremony at the Whitter
Village Pavilion in Ironshore, St James, last Friday, Whitter noted that many of the 46 applicants for the scholarships were from inner-city communities.
She told the small gathering that the foundation is committed to assist tertiary students.
“My husband [Joe] and I made a commitment to do something, a lot, for children. My husband passed away on August 19, 2013. On the anniversary of his birthday, December 11, 2020, I decided to start this foundation. We are in a pandemic and were in a pandemic then, so whereas a lot of companies and persons would be pulling back, I still thought it would be good to give back in some way to some persons who are in dire need; hence, we put the call out to the universities to have applications. We received over 46 applications to the foundation and here we are,” she stated.
She said the grade point average (GPA) of some of the recipients is worthy of special mention.
“Some of you have even displayed some tremendous GPAS, over 3.5, and we have decided to reward you for those efforts. So there are some of you who are getting $100,000 or have received $100,000, and there are others who have attained more than 3.5 GPA, you have also received $150,000,” Whitter told the recipients.