Birmingham PlayCare Network (BPCN) is bidding to bag a massive cash boost from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative.
Tesco teamed up with Groundwork to launch the monthly funding scheme, which sees grants of £5,000, £2,000 and £1,000 – all raised from the 5p bag levy – being awarded to local outdoor community projects.
The shortlist
Three groups in every Tesco region have been shortlisted to receive the cash award and this month shoppers are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they think should take away the top grant.
BPCN is one of the groups on the shortlist and has submitted an application for the Kingstanding (North Birmingham) area to support its Morsbags scheme, where groups of volunteers make bags from scrap fabric that BPCN supplies them with from internal resource The Scrapstore Birmingham. Morsbags are then given free of charge to anyone to encourage reduction of reliance on plastic carriers. Emma Payne, Business Development Manager said:
“We have applied for money to buy new sewing machines to distribute to our volunteers for them to make more bags. We have lots of Morsbags groups around the city – mainly Ladywood and Perry Common areas. People that go into the local Tesco stores have to ask at the checkout for a token which they then post into a box to hopefully vote for our scheme!”
Voting
Voting is open in stores from 1 February to 25 February. Customers will cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop.
Tesco’s Bags of Help project has already delivered over £25 million to more than 3,000 projects up and down the UK. Tesco customers get the chance to vote for three different groups each month. At the end of each month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions will be awarded funding.
Lindsey Crompton, Head of Community at Tesco, said:
“We are absolutely delighted to open the voting for February. There are some fantastic projects on the shortlists and we can’t wait to see them come to life in hundreds of communities.”
Groundwork’s national Chief Executive, Graham Duxbury, said:
“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.
“We’re looking forward to learning the results of the customer vote and then supporting each group to bring their project to life.”
The Bags of Help scheme is permanently open for applications and anyone can nominate a project at any time – whether it’s Tesco customers, colleagues or the community groups themselves. Just ask in store for more information or visit the Bags of Help website.