A financial helping hand is being offered to students by the Jamaican Association of Bermuda.

Applications are being accepted for the Hazel Christopher Educational Award for 2015-2016.

The $2,000 grant is issued annually to a student at post-secondary level who lives in Bermuda and has Jamaican lineage.

The award will go to an individual who demonstrates a passion for community service as well as attaining a higher education, the association said.

The scholarship was established in honour of a founding member of the association, the late Hazel Christopher. Mrs Christopher teamed up with Shurnett Caines, Eunice Fisher, Cassie Collins and Sonia Durrant Barclay to establish the group more than 30 years ago.

They focused on fighting for the rights of Jamaicans living in Bermuda in the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Mrs Christopher’s efforts resulted in her being considered the matriarch of the Jamaican community and a champion for the wider Caribbean family, the association said.

“The late Mrs Christopher was a selfless community servant and an astute business woman who spent some 40 years on Court Street operating the In-Between Boutique,” the association added. “Her life and service to the local Jamaican community is one that the members of the JAB are proud of and hold dearly.”

Application forms are available from the Jamaican Association’s office at 55 Court Street, weekdays from 5pm to 7pm, and on the organisation’s website, www.jamaicabda.org

Completed forms, along with required supporting documents, must be returned to the association’s office no later than 5pm on Monday, July 6.

• For more information, call 291-4192 or 533-1630, or e-mail info@jamaicabda.org or jamaicanassociationofbermuda@gmail.com