Good Causes On Island Handed Cash Grants Thanks To Tesco

Three good causes received a welcome cash boost when community-conscious colleagues at Tesco stores on the Isle of Wight handed out grants worth £3,000.

Sight for Wight was able to celebrate after receiving a cheque for £1,500, which will go towards a programme educating children on how to keep their eyes healthy and prevent avoidable sight.

Another establishment to receive funding was South Wight Area Youth Partnership. It was awarded £1,000 to develop a partnership between the charity, Brighstone CE Primary School and Niton Primary school to mentor up to 12 Year 6 pupils about wellbeing, mental and emotional health.

The third good cause to be awarded funding was UK Sailing Academy. It received £500, which will be used to provide every Year 6 Isle of Wight child a free day on the water to learn safety, build water confidence, and develop essential life skills.

These grants came from Tesco’s Stronger Starts scheme, in partnership with the Groundwork charity, which supports many Isle of Wight community projects and good causes, giving away thousands of pounds.

Lisa Hollyhead, CEO of Sight for Wight, is deafblind herself. She leads a team 14 Sight for Wight staff and 136 volunteers.

She said:

“We’re very grateful to Tesco for this essential funding. It will go towards helping a lot of young people.

“Age-related loss comes to one in three people and accounts for more than 50% of sight loss on the Island. However, it can be slowed down or even prevented by protecting young eyes, especially under the age of 14, from UVA and UVB rays from the sun. 

“While research is new into this area, we firmly believe putting things in place to save future generations can only be a very positive thing.”

The Sight for Wight programme has been initially developed and tested in local schools and has received positive feedback from every school.

Claire De Silva, Head of Community at Tesco, said:

“We’re delighted that we can help groups and clubs such as Sight for Wight. 

“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.”

Isle of Wight 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.

Further information about is available at Sight for Wight www.iwsb.org.uk

More information about Stronger Starts is available at https://tescostrongerstarts.org.uk