The Ark Trust, a local registered charity who runs Local Healthwatch and Carers Support services across Bracknell Forest, is bidding to bag a massive cash boost from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative.
Tesco teamed up with Groundwork to launch its community funding scheme, which sees grants of up to £4,000, up to £2,000 and £1,000 raised from carrier bag sales in Tesco stores awarded to local community projects.
Three groups in every Tesco region have been shortlisted to receive the cash award and shoppers are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they think should take away the top grant.
Healthwatch Bracknell Forest and Signal for Carers is one of the groups successful at getting on the shortlist which they are really proud of.
Local Healthwatch collects feedback from patients and the public about local health and social care services. These views are then collated and shared anonymously with providers and commissioners to help make improvements to health and social care services. The other role of Local Healthwatch is to signpost and provide information about health and social care services to help people who at times maybe finding the system difficult to navigate.
SIGNAL for Carers provides support, information, guidance, advice and learning to carers. A carer is someone who is looking after someone else and they are not being paid to do this, for example a support worker is paid. Carers are looking after their spouse, their partners, family members, neighbours, friends. It doesn’t matter who they are looking after they are all carers. There is no minimum amount of time someone may spend caring to entitle them to free information and advice to assist them in their caring role.
Chris Taylor, Communication and Systems Manager at The Ark Trust said “Both of these services are funded by Bracknell Forest Council, any monies raised will be used to enhance the services, for example, we want to be able to be in more public places to collect people views and we want to be able to host more events for carers and the person they care for, something that is not part of our core contract but is something that carers tell us they and the person they care for really value and enjoy.”
Voting is open in the following Tesco Stores throughout May and June 2018; Ascot High Street (SL5 7HP), Bracknell (RG12 9TZ), Bracknell North RG42 3JP, Forest Park (RG12 0XQ).
Customers will cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop. If you don’t receive a token, please ask a member of staff for one.
Tesco’s Bags of Help project has already delivered over £40 million to 9,700 projects up and down the UK. Tesco customers get the chance to vote for three different groups every time they shop. Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions will be awarded funding.
Alec Brown, Head of Community at Tesco, said:
“We are absolutely delighted to open the voting for May and June. There are some fantastic projects on the shortlists and we can’t wait to see these come to life in hundreds of communities.”
Groundwork’s National Chief Executive, Graham Duxbury, said:
“We’ve been thrilled to see the diversity of projects that have applied for funding, ranging from outdoor classrooms, sports facilities, community gardens, play areas and everything in between.
“We’re looking forward to learning the results of the customer vote and then supporting each group to bring their project to life.”
Funding is available to community groups and charities looking to fund local projects that bring benefits to communities. Anyone can nominate a project and organisations can apply online. To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp
