Sainsbury’s in Amblecote has officially launched a partnership with Sycamore Adventure, its new Local Charity of the Year.

The charity was chosen by customers, through a public vote in store and online, in June and will now receive a year’s worth of support, by working with store colleagues on fundraising and awareness raising events.
 
Representatives from the charity joined Sainsbury’s colleagues to kick start the partnership, by collecting at the store, on the 2nd and 4th August and talking to customers and colleagues about the award winning play centre. On the 3rd August, Amblecote store colleague Marcia Welch and her 6 year old daughter, Summer, entertained the younger customers in their Pikachu costumes and received more donations for the charity.
 
Donations over the launch weekend and the collection tins in store raised an incredible £899.48, owing to the generosity of customers and colleagues. Moira Shaw, Chair at Sycamore Adventure supporting Charity said:

“We are really excited to have been chosen as the store’s new Local Charity of The Year, as the partnership will help us to raise funds to go towards a number of projects, throughout the year.
 
"We have a sensory room that is in need of refurbishment but especially some new large bean bags for children to lie on, when using the room. We are also hoping to raise funds to buy some new indoor equipment – it has been so well used, it is wearing out.
 
"The final hope is to raise enough monies to be able to support the provision of our community sessions – more specifically for children with a number of disabilities.”
 
Kevin Healy, Store Manager at Sainsbury’s Amblecote added:

"We had a very successful launch for our new Local Charity of the Year, Sycamore Adventure. I’d like to thank all of our customers for their support on the day and am looking forward to lots more successful events, over the coming months.”
 
The Local Charity of the Year scheme is now in its tenth year and has raised over £13 million to support local charities since 2009.