By Janet Silvera, Freelance WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE HANOVER Ministers Fraternal will continue to serve hot meals to 450 indigent persons every Tuesday, and the Lucea Primary will be able to purchase much needed benches, as they are among the over 60 entities who will share in a $4.1 million donation by the Hanover Charities (HC).
With a cheque for $400,000 in his grasp, Rev. Father Percival Lynch, Chairman of Hanover's Minister's Fraternal, was quite thankful for the financial assistance, which will go towards providing for Lucea's street people, shut-ins and the mentally ill, who are fed at the soup kitchen, located at the Social Development Commission (SDC) complex.
The money, which was raised at the Annual Sugar Cane Carnival at the Round Hill Villas and Hotel, staged in February, and from donations received locally and from visitors to both the Tryall and Round Hill properties, is considered a "blessing" by the recipients.
The Hanover Charities presented the cheques to the recipients last Wednesday morning at a ceremony at the Round Hill resort. Owing to the state of general world environment, the charity was faced with its own constraints and challenges this year but, according to Roy Ten-Fah, "We raised US$120,000 ($6.9 million), before expenses."
Like Rev. Father Lynch, Mr. Glen Shettlesworth, the new Principal of the Lucea Primary, was elated with his cheque. According to him, "With a school population of 1,140 students, at 90 students per class and 25 teachers on roll, this money will go a long way in providing some benches."
The Hopewell Jaycees, which pocketed a cheque for $300,000, will use their funds to facilitate the staging of a five-day Health Fair, while Kiwanis Club of Montego Freeport, which got $25,000, will continue its project at the West Haven Children's Home.
The Hanover Charities was founded in 1957 by the late William Horny deLisser, Custos of Hanover. Today it is the largest charitable organisation in Western Jamaica.
Requests for funding of specific projects are carefully investigated and screened by the board of the Hanover Charities, headed by chairperson, Paula Watkins.
