Tesco : gives Bags of Help for Pride

6 Jul 2018

LGBT+ groups across Britain will be celebrating Pride with the chance to bag themselves a share of over £75,000.

The community groups and charities are all taking part in the latest round of Tesco's community grant scheme Bags of Help.

The initiative, which is run in partnership with environmental charity Groundwork, sees the money raised from the sale of carrier bags awarded to thousands of local community projects every year. To celebrate Pride, the supermarket is putting a special focus on LGBT+ groups in London, Brighton, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow.

They include a performing arts project for young LGBT+ people under 19, a group who support transgender children and their parents, and an intergenerational community garden.

Voting is open in selected stores in the five cities throughout July and August. Customers will cast their vote using a token given to them at the checkout each time they shop. Since launching in 2015, the scheme has awarded more than £52 million to more than 16,000 projects all over the UK.

Tesco colleagues will also be attending Pride events across the country, with the supermarket bringing its specially adapted 40 foot delivery truck to Pride parades in London, Manchester and Glasgow.

Alec Brown, Tesco's Head of Community, said:

'To celebrate Tesco's long-running support of LGBT+ Pride events across the country, the latest round of voting in Bags of Help will put a special focus on the LGBT+ community. We are very proud to be supporting a wide range of groups and charities who are doing amazing work to support, empower and celebrate their local LGBT+ communities.

'Bags of Help has already reached thousands of community groups and organisations across Britain and shows no sign of slowing as it goes from strength to strength. The wonderful thing about Bags of Help is that groups are voted for by our customers in the communities we serve.'

Graham Duxbury, Groundwork's National Chief Executive, said:

'As a charity supporting communities in all their richness and diversity, we know the value of giving groups the means and support to deliver projects that can celebrate and educate others about the causes that are important to them.

'Bags of Help has enabled thousands of community projects across Britain to benefit from funding to make their local area better. In many cases that means bringing people together from a wide range of backgrounds and with a wide range of talents to make change happen and to make it last. We're delighted to be helping this new wave of projects supporting Pride and LGBT groups to do just that.'

ENDS

Notes to editors

Since launching in 2015, the scheme has awarded more than £52 million to more than 16,000 projects all over Britain. This includes more than 13,000 groups in England sharing over £40 million, 2,000 groups in Scotland sharing in over £6 million, and more than 1,100 groups in Wales sharing in over £3 million.

Funding is available to community groups and charities looking to fund local projects that bring benefits to communities. Anyone can nominate a project and organisations can apply online. To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp.