Tesco works in partnership with Groundwork to offer its Bags of Help funding scheme, where the money raised by the sale of carrier bags is being used to fund thousands of local projects in communities right across Britain, all voted on by customers in store.
A local group which has benefited from the initiative is Headway Cambridgeshire, a charity which provides specialist services and support to people with an acquired brain injury, their family and carers.
The group secured a £4,851 grant in late 2017 and was able to use the funding to support a series of 48 weekly Bushcraft sessions for its service users. Bushcraft is designed to help those who have sustained brain injuries to begin to make sense of their environment.
Simon Lacey, Senior Horticulture and Practical Therapies Co-ordinator at Headway Cambridgeshire said: “For someone who has experienced a brain injury, it can seem like the world around them doesn’t make sense any more. It can feel like being dropped into a foreign land, filled with danger and confusion. The person often has to relearn things they used to take for granted and it can seem that the resources they had come to rely on before injury are no longer available to them.
“Headway Cambridgeshire’s Bushcraft sessions enable individuals to engage with their environment and find new ways of meeting their needs, new strategies for coping with change and loss. We provide enriched environments where people, no matter how ‘disabled’ they might be in other aspects of the life, can identify and make use of resources and therefore feel resourceful and capable.”
The sessions focus on skills such as fire making, whittling, shelter building, foraging and navigation.(Image shows volunteers and service users at a Bushcraft session)
Keith Jackson, Tesco’s Bags of Help Manager added: “Headway Cambridgeshire is a fantastic charity and we’re proud to have played a small part in the valuable work it does in our community.
“Now we’re looking for other groups and charities that could benefit from a Tesco Bags of Help grant.”
Since launching in 2015 Tesco’s Bags of Help community grant programme has provided more than 16,000 community projects with over £56 million of funding.
Tesco customers get the chance to vote for three different groups every time they shop using the blue token given to them at checkouts. Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions will be awarded funding of between £1,000 and £4,000.
Community groups and charities can apply for funding and Tesco customers and colleagues can nominate projects that they’d like to see receive some cash. Just ask in store for more information or visit the Bags of Help website, www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp
The Bags of Help initiative is supported by money raised from carrier bag sales in Tesco stores.
So far Bags of Help has awarded over £56 million to more than 16,000 community projects.
Tesco customers get the chance to vote for three different groups every time they shop using the blue token given to them at checkouts. Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions will be awarded funding of £1,000 - £4,000.
For more information please visit: www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp
Another scheme available to local community groups is Tesco’s Community Food Connection, delivered in partnership with food redistribution charity FareShare, donates surplus food to more than 7,000 local charities and community groups. The programme operates in all Tesco stores and has provided more than 22 million meals since 2016.
Charities and community groups interested in registering for Community Food Connection, can find out more at www.tesco.com/community-food-connection