Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter

Michael Anthony Cuffe (centre) joins Hopeton Henry and Nadine Molloy in conversation at the Mutual Building Societies Foundation launch at the Hilton hotel last Thursday.

When two of the oldest building societies this side of the hemisphere get together for a worthy cause, it's bound to generate lots of goodness.

Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) and Victoria Mutual Building Society (MBS) have teamed up to form the Mutual Building Societies Foundation (MBSF), a foundation for implementing social development projects. One of those projects is creating centres of excellence in non-traditional and newly formed high schools, especially in rural Jamaica. The centres' purpose is to contribute to sustainable national development by improving the quality, delivery and impact of secondary education in these schools.

The initiative was launched on Valentine's Day, and who wouldn't fall in love with this idea? General manager of JNBS, Earl Jarrett, felt the MBSF and the centres represented both companies' deep sense of responsibility to their members as they sought to "serve the under-served". His counterpart, president and CEO of VMBS, Richard Powell, said that the expected outcomes include improvement of students in four key subject areas (mathematics, information technology, English and science) and community empowerment.

Guests out to see this initiative get going included Admiral Peter Brady, Jeanie Robinson, Suzette Rochester, Shelly-Ann Henry-Wilson, Paulette Francis-Smellie, Hugh Reid, Janice McKenley, Marlene Parker, Brian Campbell, Jackie Clarke, Fernando Desperalto, Michelle Pollard-Gonzalez, Saffrey Brown, Leesa Kow, Ransford Davidson, Wanica Purkiss, Carmen Tipling, Alicia Glasgow, Claudine Allen and Marie Stewart.

Photos by Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

Bishop of Kingston, Robert Thompson, greets Dr Marie Stewart of the Generating Genius programme, at the Mutual Building Societies Foundation launch.

Red Stripe's Noel DaCosta appears delighted to be in the company of Maria Jones, permanent secretary in the education ministry. In the background is Alphansus Davis, adviser to the minister of education.

Sandra Morgan of Victoria Mutual Building Society chats with Michael Muirhead of Victoria Mutual Insurance.

TVJ's General Manager Kay Osborne chats with Wendel Smith, assistant general manager of information systems and operations at Jamaica National