Shoppers at Failsworth's Tesco store have raised over £600 for Maggie's Cancer Charity and Dr Kershaw's Hospice through in-store fundraising activities.
The store’s community champion, Rose Knipe, set up a £1 lucky surprise bags initiative and sold donated books on her long-standing book table, which have allowed her to collect money for the two local charities, with help from generous Tesco customers.
Maggie’s Cancer Charity, founded by Maggie Keswick Jencks, was created to offer a new type of support so that patients could change the way they live with cancer. The charity offers information about treatments, emotional support and practical advice and a place for patients to meet and talk to people who are going through the same things.
Dr Kershaw's Hospice provides free, specialist, end-of-life and palliative care for adults with life-limiting illnesses in Oldham and its surrounding areas in a peaceful and homely environment. The majority of its £3.6 million annual budget is supported by fundraising activities like those from Tesco.
Rebecca Bentham, Director of Income Development and Marketing at Dr Kershaw’s Hospice, thanked the Tesco team and customers.
She said: “We are very grateful to Rose, Tesco Failsworth, and Tesco customers for their generous support of Dr Kershaw’s. Our patients are at the heart of all that we do at the Hospice, and every £1 raised will help to provide vital, specialist, patient care for the people of Oldham. During such a challenging two years it is reassuring to know we have such a strong, supportive, and loyal community. Thank you to everyone who took part.”
Tom Hall, Centre Fundraising Organise at Maggie’s Oldham, was also grateful.
He said: "Maggie’s Oldham is really grateful to Rose and the team at Tesco, not just for their recent donation of £300 but also for their continued support for our centre. Their fantastic fundraising means we can continue to be here for people with cancer in Oldham and the surrounding areas. Their contribution is really appreciated by all our team, volunteers and centre visitors and we look forward to continuing this relationship in 2022.”
As well as all the fundraising work, Rose also did her bit to make life easier for one of her customers over Christmas. One of Rose’s regular customers was rushed to hospital with a brain tumour in the lead-up to the festive period, leaving his family devastated.
His wife was also concerned that she would not have time to do her normal Christmas shopping amongst the hospital visits. Rose heard about this and decided to get her colleagues to pull together a bundle of toys for the family to help ease some of the stress.
Rose reflected on her recent charity work: “It is such a pleasure to be able to support such amazing charities. They are both doing such important work for our local community and so I am very grateful for my lovely Tesco customers for being so generous and allowing us to raise so much money!”
Rose will continue to fundraise for local charities and look out for the local community in her role at Tesco. She plans to support Cancer Research and the British Heart Foundation in coming months.
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