As a new pot of funding opens for applications, Co-Operative staff in Bristol, Somerset and Wiltshire are celebrating their successful store fundraising in 2020.
A total of £4,232 was raised last year at The Co-operative Food stores in Bristol, £5,041 was raised by stores in Somerset and £2,971 was raised at stores in Wiltshire thanks to the support from customers and local residents.
To show Southern Co-op’s appreciation to the local causes, the total was rounded up to £12,659 so each cause receives a minimum of £500.
The funding will go to nine separate local causes – each of the stores’ local partners. These include 34th Weston-Super-Mere Scouts, Clevedon and District Foodbank, Conquest Centre, Dorothy House Hospice Care, John McNeill opportunity centre, Julian Trust, Kingshill Friends Association, The Royal Marines Charity, and Vallis First School.
Fundraising activities at the stores ranged from colouring competitions and treasure hunts, to raffles and guess the sweets in a jar.
Holly Bramble​, Southern Co-op’s Community and Campaign Co-ordinator, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Across all of our stores in the south, colleagues and customers raised a massive £120,000 for local partners. This was no mean feat as a lot of the bigger fundraising events had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.”
“Despite the pressure a lot of families had to face last year, they have still found time to give generously and make a difference to local causes who have been keeping the communities going.”
Every year, each of Southern Co-op’s local food stores choose a local partner which aims to create greener, safer, healthier or more inclusive neighbourhoods.
With a lot of fundraising cancelled last year, these existing local partnerships will continue into 2021 as part of the ‘Love Your Neighbourhood’ programme.
Thirteen other stores in Bristol and Somerset raised more than £4,550 for Julian Trust Night Shelter. The charity, which usually runs a night shelter for homeless people and rough sleepers, has been supporting people in a different way during the pandemic. Its food stores and kitchens have been used as part of the Cheers Drive initiative with Caring in Bristol to provide food for homeless individuals who have been offered temporary hotel accommodation, preparing several hundred meals on a daily basis.
Southern Co-op’s Love Your Neighbourhood programme also enables charities and local causes to apply for grants of up to £500 to help sow the seeds to a secure, stronger future for everyone.
Applications are now open for 2021 local funding with more information via www.thesouthernco-operative.
