Thousands of pounds raised for local community causes across Sussex

More than £25,500 has been raised by supermarket chain and customers across Sussex.

Thousands of pounds will be shared between 25 separate charities and good causes which were the 2021 local partners of The Co-operative Food stores in East and West Sussex.

The money was raised through collection pots and fundraising activities at the Southern Co-op stores and will be rounded up to make sure each charity receives at least £1,000.

Holly Bramble​, Community Lead at the regional, independent co-operative, said: "Each of these local causes makes a difference in their local community. It is incredibly important to us, our colleagues and our members to make sure we support them in their efforts - whether that is a local school working to be more sustainable, or a charity which cares for people in need.

"So we'd like to thank every shopper who put their pennies in the collection pots and every colleague who organised a fundraising activity. It's been a tough few years but it is wonderful to see people continuing to support each other where they can."

The causes benefitting from the funding in East Sussex are Cat Call, Chestnut Tree House, Martlets Hospice, Norfolk Square Group, St Wilfrid's Hospice Eastbourne, Sussex Homeless Support, Wadhurst Warriors, and You Raise Me Up.

The causes benefitting from the funding in West Sussex are 8th Burgess Hill Scouts, Brent Lodge Wildlife Hospital, Chestnut Tree House, 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, Nyewood C of E Infant School, The Apuldram Centre, The Princess Royal Hospital - Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals charity, and Wittering District 1st Responders.

More than £2,100 was raised in East Wittering for the Wittering District 1st Responders - which help provide emergency life saving care to patients.

A lot of the money raised came from raffles, dress up day, till collections and books that were donated by colleagues which started during the pandemic as a lot of customers were missing the library and not meeting friends and family.

William Craven, Secretary to the 1st Responders, said: "The Trustees and the Responders of the Wittering & District 1st Responders would like to thank all the staff and customers of the East Wittering Co-op for their generous donation to our funds.

"We will continue to work with the Ambulance Service to provide a first response to emergencies that occur in our area. We will also maintain and look for new sites for AED's which have proved life saving in the past. This donation will assist us to continue this work. We rely on donations such as this to continue the service that we give to the community."

Stores that took part in the fundraising in Sussex were The Co-operative Food in Angmering's The Square, Bognor Regis's Hawthorn Road, Bognor Regis's Rose Green Road, Bosham's Delling Lane, Bosham's Station Road, Broadbridge Heath's Wickhurst Square, Burgess Hill's Junction Road, Burgess Hill's London Road, Chichester's Bognor Road, Chichester's Lavant Road, Chichester's Oliver Whitby Road, Chichester's Spitalfield Lane, Chichester's Stockbridge Road, East Preston's Station Parade, East Wittering's Cakeham Lane, Eastbourne's Beatty Road, Eastbourne's Lindfield Road, Eastbourne's Seaside, Falmer's Bramber House (Sussex Uni), Ferring's Ferring Street, Haywards Heath's Franklynn Road, Horsham's Guildford Road, Hove's Old Shoreham Road, Hove's Portland Road, Hove's Western Road, Portslade's Abinger Road, Selsey's High Street, St Leonards's Battle Road 290, St.Leonards's Battle Road 100, Wadhurst's Sparrow Green 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.

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.