THOUSANDS of pounds have been donated to 18 Guernsey charities, youth groups, schools and adult support centres as part of The Channel Islands Co-operative Society’s Helping Hands fund.

The Co-op has ran the Helping Hands fund since 1995 and to date approximately £288,000 has been donated across the Channel Islands to good causes. This year the fund awarded a total of £17,900 to 34 organisations in both Guernsey and Jersey.

Among those groups in Guernsey to receive funding this year were Edible Guernsey, which provides gardening tools to older members of the community with less physical ability, St John’s Residential Home, which currently provides 45 residents with a home, and Guernsey Caring for Ex-offenders, which will use the funds to buy basic kitchen appliances for ex-offenders. In total 16 Guernsey charities benefitted from donations totalling more than £8,700.

Also to receive money from the Helping Hands fund were Headway Guernsey and the Riding for the Disabled Guernsey Group (RDA).