Thank you Tesco, you’ve been ‘Bags of Help’ to us!

Today we’re reflecting on the fabulous impact of the support we received from the Tesco Bags of Help scheme, administered by Groundwork. Back in the summer of 2019, we received £4,000 to help fund our girls project work, thanks to the generosity of Tesco customers selecting our charity with their shopping bag tokens.

This funding was a huge help towards enabling over 30 mentoring sessions with young girls in the area, running the Sisu: Managing Emotions, and I'm The Girl I Want To Be courses, alongside our weekly drop-ins which allow any young person to drop-in to engage with wellbeing activities, 15 minute 1:1 chats and meet new people who may be feeling similar to them.  

Image from Tesco Bags of Help

Naomi, Golddigger Trust’s Girls Project Worker said “through our mentoring programme, each of these girls have demonstrated growth in moving forward from the issues they were struggling with. One of them came to us struggling with anxiety around leaving the house and being in groups of people after being bullied for years previously. 

Through one-to-one mentoring, she has been able to discuss how she feels, understand why she was feeling the way she was, and work on leaving the house to access the support she needs.  

She is now able to help her nan out by going to the shops, has put in place coping strategies to help her when the negative feelings arise and is dreaming about what the future might look for her where before she was unable to see past her anxiety.  

Some of the comments from young people who have attended our drop-in recently said”,

• "It’s a warm welcoming environment that I can relax in"

• "It was just nice to get stuff off my chest and get advice from someone who won’t judge"

• "I think that it has helped me to take a break and express who I am".

“It really is a privilege to see young people benefited from our services, so I’d like to say thank-you to Tesco and shoppers across the city who helped.”  

David Ford, Tesco Local Communications Manager for the North, said: “We are really proud of the impact Bags of Help has had in communities across Yorkshire. The Golddigger Trust is just one of many groups across the nation which have benefitted from funding through the scheme, and we have awarded millions to similar projects which benefit communities across the region. We would encourage anyone with a project that could make a difference to their local community to find out about how Bags of Help could help them.” 

Graham Duxbury, Groundwork’s National Chief Executive, said: “Bags of Help continues to enable local communities up and down Britain to improve their local spaces and the places that matter to them. 

“The diversity of projects that are being funded shows that local communities have a passion to create something great in their area. We are pleased to be able to be a part of the journey and provide support and encouragement to help local communities thrive.” 

To date, Bags of Help has provided more than £80million to more than 27,000 community projects across the UK.