Every year shoppers at our village Co-op help to provide much needed cash for three local good causes via their ‘Local Community Fund’.
During the last funding year, the Ruddington branch handed out a total of £11,458.25 to local projects in need via ‘The Big Co-op Payout’ – split between Ruddington District Girl Guiding, NG11 Foodbank and Together@Clifton. Sandy Flavill and Sally Beards of Ruddington Girlguiding are pictured (top) receiving their cheque for £3737.37 from store manager Chris Bradbury.
When Co-op members buy selected Co‑op products and services, the shop gives back 2p for every £1 spent into your membership account to spend at a later date. A further 1p goes to projects supporting fairer access to food, mental health and education whilst another 1p goes to a local community cause of your choice. For 2020-2021 two of those chosen – Bloomin’ Dementia and 1st Ruddington Scout Group – are based in our village, whilst the third is StepOutStayOut over in Clifton.
Member Pioneer for Ruddington and Clifton, Gwen Eyre, says: “I’m really delighted to be working with three new causes this year as part of Co-op’s commitment to the local community, especially with the extra challenges brought by Coronavirus:
“Bloomin’ Dementia have previously benefitted from being a recipient of the local community fund, however the needs of older people living with dementia such as isolation have only increased with the pandemic and I’m really pleased to be able to work with them again.
“1st Ruddington Scouts have had to adapt to a very different way of providing scouting activities during the last few months however with the disruption children have seen to their education and routine the skills and friendship that this group gives to 150 young people in our village is so important.
“StepOutStayOut is a sporting organisation based in Clifton that uses football to increase resilience, cohesion and engagement especially with its youth coaching sessions on a Friday night at the Charnwood Centre” explains Gwen.
If you’re not already a Co-op member, you can join up for £1 >>HERE<< and then choose which local cause to support in your community. Existing members can simply log in and make their choice. The more members who select a specific cause, the more funding that project will receive. Additionally, you can also choose to donate your own rewards, if you wish.
Find more details at https://coop.co.uk/membership
Fingers crossed that, in the coming 12 months, Ruddington shoppers can help the next three local good causes raise thousands more for their projects.
{Top photo by Gwen Eyre}
