Giving back: How you can help fund local community groups in your area for free
Across the country, every single day, hundreds of thousands of community projects continue to make a massive difference in the lives of millions of British people. But they can't hope to continue without the generosity of others. Now theres a chance for everyday grocery shoppers to get involved and lend their own helping hand.
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00:00 Hi there, I'm Graeme Duxbury and I'm the Chief Executive of the charity Groundwork
00:05 UK. Groundwork's a charity that works right across the UK, helping communities take action
00:10 on the issues that matter to them. So that might be the state of the local environment,
00:15 it might be services and facilities for young people, it might be just activities and projects
00:21 that bring people together and connect them with their neighbours. And what we're all
00:25 about is making sure that those projects, those organisations have the funds, have the
00:29 practical support, have the expertise on hand in order to fashion the solutions that they
00:34 think will work best in their local area. At the centre of community for many of us
00:39 are our neighbourhood shopping spots. A hive of activity all day long, people flock there
00:44 to spend their money locally and socialise with others in the community. And some of
00:49 the shopping hubs are recognising their impact and using their influence to give back to
00:54 the communities they reside in. The grant is all part of the Tesco Stronger Starts programme
00:58 that we've been working with Tesco on for the last seven years now. And that's all about
01:03 making sure the community groups, organisations, working with young people and schools are
01:08 able to access grants in order to have a bigger impact through their activities and through
01:14 their services. And twice a year, the Stronger Starts programme gets an extra boost with
01:20 some golden grants. So basically, 100 organisations across the country that are part of that programme
01:27 will be able to benefit from an additional boost of funding of up to Ā£5,000. And it's
01:33 people shopping in Tesco stores that will decide which of those organisations get that
01:36 additional boost in funding. A school in Wales is one of those blessed by the generosity
01:41 of the great British public. They were elected to be awarded funds towards their everyday
01:46 operations. They've used grant money to develop a new outdoor play area for their pupils with
01:51 ASD and/or sensory processing disorder. As a special needs school, they've stressed the
01:56 importance for pupils to access the outdoor environment for physical literacy and movement
02:01 breaks. Sarah Jones says the staff and students couldn't be more grateful. People are like,
02:06 oh my gosh, really? Really? Is it true? Because it's such a huge amount of money to be donated
02:11 to the school. We are over the moon, to say the least. A little while ago, we had a member
02:19 of the public pick the gold coin and select our school to be supported with the Ā£10,000.
02:28 This will make such a huge, huge difference towards the money that we are currently raising
02:34 towards a third minibus. So how can you get involved and lend a helping hand to a community
02:40 project in your area? Here's the advice. The Strongly Starts programme is open all the
02:45 time. It's really straightforward. So you can go online through the tescoplc.com website
02:51 slash stronger starts or the groundwork website. You can find your way to the place where you
02:55 can suggest a project or you can apply for a grant. As I say, it's a very straightforward
02:59 process. We've got a team of people that can help if you're struggling.