CHARITIES ACROSS COVENTRY, WARWICKSHIRE, SOUTH LEICESTERSHIRE AND NORTHAMPTONSHIRE BENEFIT FROM GIVEAWAY WORTH MORE THAN £4,000

Charities and organisations across Coventry, Warwickshire, south Leicestershire and Northamptonshire have benefited from a giveaway worth more than £4,000.

Schools, guides and elderly people are among the groups to benefit from the latest monthly giveaway from the Heart of England Co-operative Society.

The Society, the region’s largest independent retailer, donates every penny of tobacco profit to groups across its trading area through its Helping Hearts Award Scheme.

Groups to benefit in the latest round of awards include the St Barnabas Family Centre in Coventry which received £300 towards a fridge freezer to store food for children using its after-school club.

In Rugby the Brinklow Under 7s football team received £250 to buy new kits for players. The Priory Theatre in Kenilworth received £250 towards an induction loop for hearing aid users.

In Nuneaton, Helping Hearts gave £200 to the Royal Warwick Rest Memorial in Riversley Park, for the upkeep of the memorial which is maintained by the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Association. And co-ordinators of Coping With Cancer, based in Leicestershire and Rutland, have received £311 to buy an additional massage couch for their complementary therapy project, which takes place at the St Francis Centre in Hinckley. The donation from the Helping Hearts Award Scheme will allow them to treat more cancer patients.

Jo Dyke, Community and Membership Adviser at the Heart of England Co-operative Society, said: “As the region’s largest independent retailer, with 55 branches across Coventry, Warwickshire, south Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, we are delighted to be in a position where we are able to plough money back into the communities we serve, helping charities and organisations which in turn provide help and support to some of the most deserving members of society.

“Since the Helping Hearts Award Scheme was launched 10 years ago we have pledged more than £586,000 to a wide range of worthy causes. We are delighted to be able to help more groups in the latest round of awards this month. We know the money will be used to benefit hundreds, if not thousands, of people across the trading area over the next few weeks and we would urge co-ordinators of other schemes, which have not yet made applications to us but who feel funding from Helping Hearts Award Scheme could help benefit their members or users, to pick up an application form.”

Forms are available from any Society branch, or by calling Jo Dyke on 024 7638 2331.

FULL LIST OF PLEDGES - MARCH 2010:

COVENTRY REGION:
Abbey Park Nursing Home, Coventry - £25
To use towards an Easter raffle in aid of the nursing home

Crow Recycling - £150
To help towards the purchase of a shredder

Corley Cricket Club - £200
To help towards materials for the refurbishment of the club. The refurbishment will be undertaken during the CricketForce weekend – an annual event in which volunteers help paint, repair and refurbish the club.

Coventry Charger ice hockey team - £250
To help the team of under 25s travel to tournaments

Foleshill Multi-Cultural Open Forum - £150
To help towards food costs of the Elders Luncheon Club, based in St Paul’s Church hall.

Coventry Green Fayre - £100
To help towards the cost of leaflets advertising the event which will take place in the Memorial Park in Coventry on August 21st.

Kidz Kamp - £500
To help the student-led project, which forms part of the Warwick University-based Warwick Volunteers, to take year five children from Canley Primary School on a four-day residential trip to the Peak District in Derbyshire. During their stay the children will visit the zoo and an activity centre, and participate in arts and crafts, cookery and sports.

Pet Care - £25
To use towards a raffle prize to raise funds for the volunteer-led charity

St Barnabas Family Centre - £300
To use towards a fridge freezer to stock food for children using the after-school club.

Thomas McGarrity, Coventry - £25
To use towards fundraising to help budding star Thomas attend Sylvia Young Theatre School in London.

TOTAL: £1,725

NUNEATON REGION:
Action for Autism - £100
To help pay for nutrition education classes, as many people with autism suffer with food allergies and intolerance

Chetwynd AFC - £25
Raffle prize towards a charity tournament in June

Friends of Nursery Hill Primary School - £20
Towards a raffle prize to raise funds for the school

Nuneaton Festival of Arts - £30
Towards the cost of a festival programme

North Warwickshire Parent and Carer Steering Group - £20
Towards a prize for a raffle as part of a fun day at the Griff and Coton Sports Club, Nuneaton, in aid of children with disabilities

Royal Warwick Rest Memorial - £200
Towards the maintenance of the memorial in Riversley Park, Nuneaton, for the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Association

Admiral Nurses - £25
Towards funds for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia

TOTAL: £420

RUGBY REGION:
Brinklow FC Under 7s - £250
To use towards a new team kit

Hillside and Rokeby Community Association - £25
To use towards a raffle being drawn at a spring dance at Harris High School in Rugby in April. Money raised from the event will go towards the Association and the Extra Mile charity, which works to help children in Sierra Leone.

TOTAL: £275

LEAMINGTON REGION:
Harbury Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme group - £250
To use towards tents, stoves, maps and compasses for young people aged 14 and over taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award through this new group.

Soft Power Education Uganda - £100
Katie Dudley, who works part-time at our Harbury Lateshop and who also studies at Aston University, is visiting Uganda in the summer with the university and will help build a primary school and assist teachers with educational projects.

2nd Whitnash Guides - £150
To use towards a camp this summer

Priory Theatre, Kenilworth - £250
To use towards an induction loop to benefit theatre-goers with hearing aids.

Lighthorne Heath Village Hall Committee - £200
To help towards the refurbishment costs of the hall

The Gap, Warwick - £150
For use towards an older people’s luncheon club

TOTAL £1,100

HINCKLEY REGION:

Coping with Cancer in Leicestershire and Rutland - £311
To use towards the purchase of an additional massage couch as part of the group’s complementary therapy project which takes place twice a month at the St Francis Centre in Hinckley. The purchase will allow the group to treat more cancer patients in the Leicestershire and Rutland areas.

Stoney Stanton Carnival - £25
To use towards a raffle to help fundraise for the event in June

Westfield Wanderers FC - £250
To use towards new kits for the various boys’ and girls’ teams

TOTAL: £586

OVERALL TOTAL: £4106