Sussex causes to benefit from co-operative fundraising

As a new pot of funding opens for applications, co-operative colleagues in Sussex are celebrating their successful store fundraising in 2020.

A total of £12,925 was raised last year at The Co-operative Food stores in Sussex thanks to the support from customers and local residents.

To show Southern Co-op's appreciation to the local causes, the total was rounded up to nearly £17,000 so each cause receives a minimum of £500.

The funding will go to 21 separate local causes - each of the stores' local partners.

In Sussex these include 8th Burgess Hill Scouts, Brent Lodge Wildlife Hospital, Cat Call, Community Transport Sussex, Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation, Ferring Country Centre, Fordwater School PTFA, Friends Fighting Cancer, Friends of Lavant Primary School, Littlehampton RNLI Lifeboat Station, Love Your Hospital, Martlets Hospice, Norfolk Square Group, Nyewood C of E Infant School, St Wilfrid's Hospice Eastbourne, Sussex Homeless Support, The Apuldram Centre, The Princess Royal Hospital - Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals charity, Wadhurst Warriors, Wittering District 1st Responders, and You Raise Me Up.

Fundraising activities at the stores ranged from colouring competitions and treasure hunts, to raffles and guess the sweets in a jar.

Holly Bramble​, Southern Co-op's Community and Campaign Co-ordinator, said: "Across all of our stores in the south, colleagues and customers raised a massive £120,000 for local partners. This was no mean feat as a lot of the bigger fundraising events had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.

"Despite the pressure a lot of families had to face last year, they have still found time to give generously and make a difference to local causes who have been keeping the communities going."

Stores that took part in the fundraising in East Sussex were The Co-operative Food in Eastbourne's Beatty Road, Lindfield Road and Seaside, Brighton's Bramber House at Sussex University, Hove's Old Shoreham Road, Portland Road and Western Road, Portslade's Abinger Road, St Leonards's Battle Road, and Wadhurst's Sparrow Green Road.

Stores that took part in the fundraising in West Sussex were The Co-operative Food in Bognor Regis's Hawthorn Road, Bosham's Delling Lane and Station Road, Burgess Hill's Junction Road and London Road, Chichester's Bognor Road, Lavant Road, Oliver Whitby Road, Spitalfield Lane and Stockbridge Road, East Preston's Station Parade, East Wittering's Cakeham Lane, Ferring's Ferring Street, Haywards Heath's Franklynn Road, and Yapton's Main Road.

Every year, each of Southern Co-op's local food stores choose a local partner which aims to create greener, safer, healthier or more inclusive neighbourhoods.

With a lot of fundraising cancelled last year, these existing local partnerships will continue into 2021 as part of the ‘Love Your Neighbourhood' programme.

Claire Kidd, Head of Fundraising at Martlets Hospice, which will receive more than £1,600 thanks to fundraising efforts at three Sussex stores, said: "Everybody at Martlets is so grateful for the continued support Southern Co-op provides us and we were thrilled to hear that you are donating £1,600 this year, what a fantastic amount you have raised in support of Martlets.

"Like Southern Co-op, Martlets is at the heart of our community. We work across Brighton and Hove and the Havens delivering vital hospice care to people living with a terminal illness, whether that is at our Hospice site in Hove or in people's homes.

"This year we have seen an increase in the number of patients we are seeing at home and our small community team have been working hard providing care and support across our community. Because we rely on community support for the majority of our funding, this donation means so much to us and will have a direct impact on people in our local community.

"With your support, we can keep caring for people when they need us the most and we are all incredibly grateful. Thank you to everyone at Southern Co-op for your ongoing support."

Southern Co-op's Love Your Neighbourhood programme also enables charities and local causes to apply for grants of up to £500 to help sow the seeds to a secure, stronger future for everyone.

Applications are now open for 2021.