A successful shopper had the Midas touch when she selected an after-school club to receive £5,000 as part of Tesco’s Stronger Starts campaign.
Shoppers at the Cheney Manor Express store were given the chance to take part in a lucky dip to find specially created gold versions of Tesco’s iconic blue voting token worth a total of £500,000 in grants to good causes.
Paternoster School was one of three local charities available to vote for in the Cheney Manor Express store to receive the £5,000 Golden Grant.
Emma Randell, who had just popped into the store to buy a few items, was shocked when she selected the winning token.
She said: “It was all a bit surreal, but I’m really pleased that the funds will go to the after-school club. A lot of parents have to work, so after-school clubs are so important.
“To select the winning token was a big surprise, but I’m glad I got to choose the charity I did, and it’s really nice for Tesco to be giving back to the community in this way.”
The aim of the £5,000 grants is to help schools and children’s groups provide nutritious food and healthy activities that support young people’s physical health and mental wellbeing, such as breakfast clubs or snacks, and equipment for healthy activities.
With many small, often volunteer-run groups facing rising costs, Stronger Starts grants are vital at the moment to help them keep going.
Claire De Silva, head of communities and local media at Tesco, said: “Our Super Saturday events were a really fun occasion in store, with our colleagues and customers really keen to get involved and be a part of choosing which local good cause received the £5,000 grant. Hopefully, this will help to make a difference to everyone that they continue to support within our communities.”
Golden Grants are awarded twice a year and are part of Tesco Stronger Starts, a £5million grants programme in partnership with Groundwork UK.
Schools and children’s groups can apply for a grant via Groundwork by going to www.tescoplc.com/strongerstarts. Successful applications will go to a vote in their local Tesco store where customers choose which of the three projects they’d like to support by voting with a blue token.
Since Tesco launched its Community Grants programme in 2016, more than £100million has been given to more than 50,000 schools and community groups.
