A school and a charity in Co. Armagh are celebrating after sharing Tesco grants worth £2,000 to help young people.
Charity Portadown Cares, in Portadown, and Tiny Tots Corner Playgroup, in Killylea, were selected in the latest round of Tesco’s Fruit and Veg Grants scheme, with grants of £1,500 and £500 awarded following a customer vote in store.
Portadown Cares received the top grant of £1,500, which will go towards the Kids Who Care Snack Packs project. The programme provides food hampers to hundreds of local families, ensuring they have a proper meal on Christmas Day.
Tiny Tots Corner Playgroup received £500 to support its Healthy Eating programme, helping offer nutritious snacks for children whose families may struggle to afford them. The funding will help ease financial pressures on parents and guarantee no child misses out on attending playgroup due to the cost of providing snacks.
The funding was awarded through Tesco’s Fruit and Veg Grants scheme, with customers voting for the schools and good causes they wanted to support by dropping their token into the relevant box in store. Each funding round features three local projects, with grants awarded based on the number of tokens received.
Tesco is keen to support schools and community groups with projects that have a clear food focus for young people, including breakfast clubs, holiday food provision, access to healthy snacks for youth groups, community pantries, cookery and nutrition sessions, and food-growing projects that help children learn where food comes from.
The grants support Tesco’s wider Fruit & Veg for Schools ambition, giving schools and community groups funding for healthy food projects as the retailer works to help more than one million schoolchildren get fruit and vegetables through its school and community programmes.
Tracie Jenkinson, Chairperson at Portadown Cares said: “Every Christmas, Portadown Cares provides food hampers to hundreds of local families. This year, with funding from Tesco, children and young people from local youth clubs and schools will help us wrap the hampers, decorate boxes, and write short festive messages on cards for the families who will receive them.”
“They will also help create Craft & Snack Packs for the children receiving hampers, including an activity and a snack to offer a healthy treat and something fun to do over the holidays.”
Claire de Silva, head of community at Tesco, said: “We’re delighted that we can help groups and clubs in Co. Armagh.
“Organisations such as Portadown Cares do such amazing work for the community they serve, being a transformative force for individuals and enhancing lives.
“We’re encouraging more schools and community groups to apply for funding for projects that help children access healthy food, learn where it comes from and build healthier habits.”
Schools and community groups can apply for funding in future rounds via Tesco, as the retailer looks to support more local projects helping children and young people access healthy, nutritious food. In recent years, thousands of pounds have been donated to good causes in Co. Armagh.
For more information about the Tesco Free Fruit & Veg for Schools programme and to find out how to apply for a grant, visit: https://www.tescoplc.
