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Merseyside residents casts
their votes for local community scheme grants
TESCO customers have voted in their
millions to help good causes on Merseyside bag a share of a £12.5m carrier bag
charge fund.
The supermarket teamed up with Groundwork to
launch the 2nd round of its 'Bags of Help' funding
initiative, which sees grants of ?12,000, ?10,000 and ?8,000; all raised from
the 5p bag levy; being awarded to local outdoor community projects. Millions of
shoppers in England and Wales voted in stores up and down the country.
The winner in Southport can now be revealed as
Redgate Community Primary School, which will spend the £12,000 grant on its
project Community Gardening Project. The runners up were West Lancashire
Borough Council and West Lancs Borough Council who bagged £10,000 and £8,000
grants respectively.
The results have been announced and the groups
will now use their award to bring their projects to life and transform their
community. Mark Thomas, Tesco Corporate Affairs Manager for the North of
England, said:- "Bags of Help has been a fantastic
success. We have been overwhelmed by the response of our customers and it's been
great to give people a say on how the money will be spent in their community. We
can't wait to see the money being used to bring these projects to life."
Voting ran in stores from 31 October to 13
November 2016; with customers choosing which local project they would like to
get the top award using a token given to them at the checkout in store.
Tesco estimates that around 6 million votes were cast in stores up and down the
UK. So far, 'Bags of Help' has awarded more than £24m across 2,421
local projects.
From 1 December 2016, customers will be able
to vote for local groups all year round, every time they shop; meaning that
thousands more projects will benefit from the scheme.
The funding will now be awarded to groups who
are seeking to use and develop outdoor spaces in ways that will benefit their
local community, and money will be available in smaller amounts, making it more
accessible.
Customers will get the chance to vote for 3
different groups each month. At the end of each month, when votes are collected,
three groups in each of Tesco's regions will be awarded funding.
Groundwork's national Chief Executive, Graham
Duxbury, said:- "It's just the beginning for Bags of
Help and we're really excited about the future. The scheme will be permanently
open for applications and as grants can now be used for not just the development
but also the use of local outdoor spaces, we expect even more groups will now
have a chance to benefit. Its projects like these that really help to capture
the public's imagination by illustrating what can be achieved when communities
are given the support and the encouragement they need to create better places
where they live."
Anyone can nominate a local project and local
organisations can apply. To find out more visit:-
Tesco.Com/BagsOfHelp.
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