MILE GULLY, Manchester — The Tony Watson Education Trust this year staged a Prayer Breakfast and Fellowship that is expected to become an annual event.

Proceeds from the breakfast are slated to go towards education scholarships for students.

According to chairman of the trust Timothy Watson, the event was also intended as an occasion “to provide spiritual and moral upliftment to our citizens”, and as such the theme ‘Molding Lives, Securing the Future’ was coined.

The event also gave the organisers a chance to highlight the opportunities available from the trust, which are not yet sufficiently publicised.

The Tony Watson Trust, named in honour of Mile Gully resident Anthony ‘Tony’ Watson, was started in 2012 by the Mile Gully Cure of Anglican Churches in Manchester.

For over 35 years he is said to have been making an impact at St Barnabas Anglican Church in the community.

He is also regarded as a community man who has served as councillor for the Mile Gully Division, president of the Mile Gully Community Club, and has sat on school boards and sports associations.

The trust is a “non-profit, charitable entity” with the core purpose of giving support to “needy” students in Manchester.

Tony Watson sits on the 15-member board of trustees, and, although the trust is named in his honour, he mostly stayed out of the spotlight at the event.

He told the Jamaica Observer Central that he is appreciative that the churches within the cure have recognised him in that way and he believes it is a continuation of the work he has been doing, particularly as it relates to education.

He said that over $3 million has been awarded through the trust since inception to assist students at different levels of their education.

The financial support aside, Watson said that the trust offers mentorship and other support, as it is aimed at “developing every aspect of the child”.

The prayer breakfast attracted persons of the Anglican and other faiths to the St Barnabas church ground where the function was held.

Minister of Education Ronald Thwaites, who was the guest speaker, said that the turnout was evidence that what unites us as a people is far greater than the things that divide us.

He praised the efforts to assist needy students and reiterated the importance of not only ensuring that beneficiaries of the trust are adept at their academic pursuits, but socially conscious as well.

“A student with a whole heap of certification and no social competence is a menace to themselves and to the society,” said Thwaites. “Therefore, this trust must encourage young people who are socially adept, who have manners and behaviour, who have respect for themselves and for others.”

Tony Watson, who is the chairman’s brother, said that service and community involvement are examples he had in his family while growing up, and his approach has always been to quietly make an impact with varying causes.

“It is not the noise or fanfare that is important,” he said, adding that he hopes that the efforts at making the education trust more widely known will encourage other churches or prompt another idea that can assist in the development of children.