For the entire month of June, all proceeds from the sale of the popular "Krust" (baked pastry dough) at Golden Krust, the nation's largest Caribbean food franchise, will go toward scholarships.

Founder and CEO Lowell Hawthorne, who recognizes the importance of supporting the community that has supported his business, has set a goal of creating 70 scholarships this year for needy young persons in the U.S. and Jamaica through the Mavis & Ephraim Hawthorne Golden Krust Foundation.

The family business has always promoted its core values and support of the community among the tenets of the company’s philosophy, and the lynchpin of this effort is the Mavis & Ephraim Hawthorne Golden Krust Scholarship Foundation. Hawthorne recognizes that “giving back to the community is making a difference in the lives of young persons and families within the communities by helping to sponsor education.” To that end, Golden Krust has awarded more than 100 scholarships since 2005 to high school graduates embarking on their first year of college, as well as high achieving students at Hawthorne’s alma mater—Oberlin High School in Jamaica.

In addition, in 2006 the company established an endowment fund at Bronx Community College for $100,000 to award scholarships to students with high aptitude who demonstrate financial need over a period of seven years. In January 2011, the company pledged $100,000 to the University of the West Indies—the oldest, fully regional institution of higher learning in the Commonwealth Caribbean—to cover tuition costs for five students per year for a period of eight years.

In this same spirit, Golden Krust continues its philanthropic support of education with a goal of creating 70 new scholarships this year, and June’s “Education Month” in-store program will set a promising start.