Our customers tell us that giving back to their communities is important to them. We’re proud to do more than make and provide food for you to enjoy - and work hard to make our communities better places to live and work in.
One of the ways we do this is through our Community Champions in stores. They play an important role in connecting our stores with their surrounding communities by leading on local and national charity fundraising, the Unsold Food programme, and volunteering. Here are just some of the stories from around our stores...
Mel Reid and Claire Hunter, Community Champions in our Darlington store.
“We know we’re more than just a shop to our customers, and we’re really proud of all we do to give back to our community. We’ve been working closely with local schools to teach children about different ways of farming and how we source our fresh produce. We’re also helping schools create produce gardens so they can grow their own fruit and vegetables to enjoy.”
“Our Community Champion mascot, Morris the bear, wears a mini colleague uniform and is really popular in store with customers and colleagues. In the summer, customers took part in Morris treasure hunts and colleagues took him on their holidays by donating to CLIC Sargent.”
“As a store, we work with our local hospital to give books to the neonatal unit and knit premature baby clothes. There are so many great ways we give back to our community, it’s something the whole store is proud of, and we’re always open to new ideas.”
Andrew Morris, Community Champion at our Sittingbourne site.
“We recently worked with a local nursery, helping little ones make cookies with our bakery team and giving them a tour of one of our lorries. We also helped Kent Fire and Rescue service with their training and held a skydive for CLIC Sargent – we’re all really proud of the work we do in our local communities and we love looking for different opportunities to get involved with on site.”
Simon Clipsom, Community Champion in our Cromer store.
“I’ve been a Community Champion for four years and have always found it really rewarding. During my time, we raised over £16,000 for Sue Ryder with a range of fundraising, from a 20-piece ukulele band to a 62-singer flash mob choir in store which got 30k+ hits on YouTube. We’ve got lots planned to fundraise for CLIC Sargent in the near future, including choir singing this Christmas.”
“We’ve also raised money for three defibrillators in our area, donated to school breakfast and after school cooking clubs, and regularly speak at local schools and clubs about healthy eating.”
Debbie Creaser, Community Champion in our Huddersfield store.
“I’ve been Community Champion since August 2016, since then we’ve done so much in our community. Recently we’ve been litter picking at a local landmark Castle Hill, we supported emergency services with fundraising, set up a food bank for our area and so much more. It’s great to be able to help so many different people and causes, from a small gesture to a huge fundraising event. We’re especially excited for Christmas this year as we’ve got a 12ft inflatable Santa’s Grotto with profits going to CLIC Sargent.”