Foundations Furniture will receive £500 to provide hot meals for volunteers who dedicate their time to the charity to help people affected by poverty, but can sometimes struggle with hardship themselves.
Foundations, based on Askew Road West in in the Teams, Gateshead, was established in 1996 to alleviate furniture poverty for Gateshead residents. Every weekday they collect donated furniture and appliances from across Tyne and Wear, and make the items available at a low cost to anyone in Gateshead who is struggling to afford the things they need to make their house a home.
Foundations said: “For our small charity, grants like this allow us to give back to our amazing volunteers, who contribute their time every week to make a difference in our community. ”
Since it began, Tesco has awarded £101,881,339 in funding to 50,880 community projects. The grant awards were decided by 738,402,011 votes cast by Tesco customers in stores across the UK using their iconic blue tokens. In this time Tesco has supported more than 6,000 schools, over 2,000 sports teams, 2,300 Brownies, Guides, Rainbows, Scouts, Cubs, Beavers, Rangers groups and 1,400 elderly and vulnerable groups.
Their new Grant scheme, Tesco’s Stronger Starts – previously Tesco Bags of Help and Tesco Community Grants - has already provided over £100 million to more than 50,000 projects across Britain.
Jason Tarry, Tesco UK CEO, said: “Helping schools and children’s groups access the food and resources they need is vitally important in getting children a stronger start in life. Children with enough food have more energy, better concentration, and ultimately achieve more too."
Graham Duxbury, Groundwork’s UK Chief Executive, said: “As a community charity, we have seen first-hand how schools and other groups supporting young people have been playing a much bigger role in ensuring children are getting a healthy start to the day and getting access to spaces and services to support physical activity and mental health. Family budgets are tight and school budgets are tight, but it’s so important that children stay fed, fit and focused, so we’re delighted to be able to prioritise these activities alongside Tesco with the Stronger Starts programme.”
Funding is available to all schools, registered charities and not-for-profit organisations, with priority given to projects that provide food and support to young people.
To find out more visit tescoplc.com/strongerstarts
For further information about Foundations Furniture please contact the charity on 0191 4778337, visit the website www.foundationsfurniture.co.uk, or visit the charity at 1-6 Teams Craft Workshops, Askew Road West, Gateshead, NE8 2PB. (Foundations is open every weekday excluding bank holidays, between 9am and 4pm).