Three good causes received a welcome cash boost when community-conscious colleagues at Tesco stores handed out grants worth £3,000.
The Last Kiss Foundation was able to celebrate after receiving a cheque for £1,500, which will pay for the development ofworkshops in local secondary schools to talk about grief and loss.
Another establishment to receive funding is Brixham’s Orchard Forest School. It was awarded £1,000 to support its Mini Explorers Pre-School life skills and fun sessions for the learning, development and care of children.
The third good cause to be awarded a grant was WatcombeWanderers Youth Football Club. It received £500, which will be used to upgrade the pitches for all the club’s football teams by improving the grounds maintenance and making it easier for the volunteer grounds maintenance teams.
The funding came from Tesco’s Stronger Starts scheme, in partnership with the Groundwork charity, which supportsmany South Devon community projects and good causes, giving away thousands of pounds.
Miss Annika Palmer, director at The Last Kiss Foundation, said: “We’re very grateful to Tesco for this essential funding.It will go towards helping a lot of young people.
“We have recognised that since the pandemic there has been an increase in the number of children and young people waiting for mental health support. They are experiencing signs of anxiety, low mood, loss of confidence and lack of happiness and also an extensive learning loss.
“The after–effects of the pandemic are still profound, and these workshops will help explore with young people tools and strategies to help them overcome the feelings of hopelessness, anxiety and concern they may have for their futures.
“We hope that by exploring with the young people feelings around loss, providing practical advice, support, guidance, we can help young people re-engage in their learning and help reduce the inequalities that currently exist between advantaged and disadvantaged young people.”
The Last Kiss Foundation workshops will cover a range of subjects, including building resilience, empathy and kindness, the different types of grief, coping techniques to support feelings of loneliness and anxiety, developing self–awareness and empowering young people.
Claire De Silva, Head of Community at Tesco, said: “We’re delighted that we can help groups and clubs in South Devon.
“Stronger Starts invites our customers to use their blue tokens to vote for local schemes they feel will benefit children and young people, and it’s so good to see the impact that the funding makes.”
South Devon shoppers can support local school and children’s groups by dropping the Tesco blue token they receive at checkout into the relevant voting box as they leave the store.
More information about Stronger Starts is available at https://tescostrongerstarts.org.uk
You can join us on our social media pages, follow us on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter) and Threads where you can keep up to date with whats going on in South Devon.
Got a news story, blog or press release that you’d like to share or want to advertise with us? Get in touch via email admin@wearesouthdevon.com
