HOPEWELL, Hanover:

The Hanover Charities organisation presented $9 million in donations to more than 100 community groups, students and educational institutions during its annual awards ceremony at the Round Hill Hotel and Villas in Hanover yesterday.

In her address, chairman of Hanover Charities, Katrin Schafelner-Casserly, said the recipients of grants over the past years should see the awards as a compliment to their efforts and a vote of faith in the worthiness of their activities.

Primary focus

"Our primary focus has been on education and literacy, but it does not stop there. Our intention is to create an infirmary for the indigent and old in the parish and, to this end, we are attempting to secure land in order to plan the creation of a facility," she added.

The funds were raised through Round Hill's 2007 Sugar Cane Ball, an annual fund-raiser held at the resort every year. Among this year's grantees were the Westhaven Children's' Home, Hanover Early Childhood Board, Hopewell High School, Hanover Parish Development Committee, and several scholarship recipients.