Jamaica’s Honorary Consul in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Elaine Grant-Bryan, has received the United States Presidential ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’.
The award, signed by President Joe Biden, is in recognition of her thousands of hours of service to the Jamaican diaspora, the Caribbean, and the US.
She has also received the President’s Volunteer Service Gold Award, a civil award established by former President George W. Bush to honor volunteers who give thousands of hours per year, helping others.
The awards were presented at a ceremony held on May 20 in Orlando, Florida.
Dr. Grant-Bryan is the first Caribbean-born person in Georgia to receive the awards.
In an interview with JIS News, the Honorary Consul says she is grateful to be honored for her 4,000 hours of service.
“I am so happy the US Government values my many years of dedicated service. They looked at my records, checked everything out and believed that I deserved the two highest honors. So, it let me know somebody noticed and I feel totally, 100 percent satisfied,” she says.
In a letter that accompanied the award, President Joe Biden thanked Dr. Grant-Bryan for her service.
“By sharing your time and passion, you are helping to discover and deliver solutions to the challenges we face – solutions that we need now more than ever. We are living in a moment that calls for hope and light and love; hope for our futures, light to see our way forward and love for one another,” the letter states.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Dr. Grant-Bryan attended Excelsior High and Kingston Technical High, before pursing tertiary studies at Northwestern University, University of West Georgia, and Leadership Sandy Springs in 1978.
A real estate broker and the owner of Elaine Bryan Reality, Dr. Grant-Bryan was appointed honorary consul on October 1, 2018, representing her native country in Atlanta on a voluntary basis.
She works with various local entities to assist nationals in Atlanta and promotes the island overseas. Among the entities is the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency in the processing of passports.
Dr. Grant-Bryan says her “joy is in service and serving others.”
“Sometimes, I over schedule myself because I love to do it so much, but I am getting better at managing my time since I cannot serve the whole world,” she says.
Over the years, Dr. Grant-Bryan has received several awards. In 2005, she received the Judge Glenda Hatchett Award for outstanding service in the field of education and in 2006, she earned the Atlanta Mayor Phoenix Award for outstanding achievements in Education and Service to the people of Atlanta.
Dr. Grant-Bryan says the funds obtained from the two awards helped her to set up the Elaine Bryan Foundation, in 2010.
The honorary consul lauds the support she receives from individuals and entities in carrying out her consul duties. She says everyone has a duty to give a bit of their time in service to their community.
“Everybody has significant talents and if we share those talents for the social good, that is the only way countries will continue to prosper,” she points out.
“That should be a priority. In fact, when we are trying to evaluate persons, I believe that quantifying what they have done for Jamaica, without pay, is very important. If you really love Jamaica that much, you will be able to work for Jamaica even in silence, even when no one is seeing us,” she contends.
State Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Leslie Campbell, commended Dr. Grant-Bryan, noting that she is “more than deserving of the awards.”
“As an honorary consul, she does 110 percent to facilitate our people who get into trouble, who are in need, and she is just always there doing things that one would not associate with a consul officer,” he pointed out.
He continued, “I have seen her help people who are having challenges getting their mortgages together or helping them with medical issues and linking them with the relevant people [to assist].”
The consul general is married to Gregory Bryan, who is a computer expert, and they work on local and international projects for the Elaine Bryan Foundation.
