Voting launches for round two of Tesco’s Bags of Help initiative

Voting launches for round two of Tesco’s Bags of Help initiative

Tesco customers are being invited to help community groups and good causes in Rochdale bag a share of a £12.5million carrier bag charge fund. The groups to benefit from the Tesco grant in Rochdale are: Friends of Hopwood Park, Petrus Community and St John's RC Primary School.

The supermarket has teamed up with Groundwork on its Bags of Help initiative, which sees grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 – all raised from the 5p bag levy – being awarded to environmental and greenspace projects across the country.

And this month shoppers are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they believe should take away the top grant.

Voting is open in store from 31 October to 13 November. Customers will be able to cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop.

The bag charge has already raised millions for good causes across England and Wales.

Lindsey Crompton, Head of Community at Tesco, said: “The first round of the Bags of Help initiative was a fantastic success.

“In total 1,170 community groups were awarded £8,000, £10,000 or £12,000 - that’s a massive £11.7 million being invested into local projects.

“We are already seeing some great results from groups transforming their own environmental and greenspace areas.

“We are absolutely delighted to be opening voting for round two and we hope that even more customers will choose to support groups that mean a lot to them and to their communities this time around.

“There are some fantastic projects on the shortlists and we can’t wait to see them come to life with Bags of Help grants.”

Groundwork’s national Chief Executive, Graham Duxbury, said: “Bags of Help is giving our communities both the funding and the support to create better, healthier and greener places for everyone to enjoy.

“We’ve been thrilled to see the diversity of projects that have applied for funding, ranging from outdoor classrooms, sports facilities, community gardens, play areas and everything in between.

“They’re all fantastic projects that make a real different in our neighbourhoods.

“We’re looking forward to learning the results of the customer vote in early October and then supporting each group to bring their project to life.”