"The difference that you have enabled us to achieve is truly amazing. The support you afford us is second to none and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts" - the words of Sian Bromwell of the Valley Veterans, one of many charities who've recently received life-changing grants from the Asda Foundation.
The Foundation has surprised 31 different community groups across the UK with Space & Places grants totalling over £600,000 and the Valley Veterans funding of £11,392 will go towards creating a quiet area plus much-needed new furniture for the Ton Pentre Community Centre where they are based.
Sian, who is admin and volunteer co-ordinator, said: "We can't thank the Asda Foundation and Asda Tonypandy store's community champion Karen Thomas enough. Karen is not only an Asda champion, she is our champion.
"We have known Karen for quite a few years now. She started helping us in lockdown with food parcels and things. She is just a superstar. I feel emotional speaking about her. She is just a wonderful, wonderful lady who always goes above and beyond. Nothing is too much trouble.
"We want to create a quiet corner for our veterans. Someone a bit more private and calm where they can just go to sit and reflect. Our youngest veteran is about 50 and he's still serving, but most of our veterans I would say are in their late 70s.
"We could not have achieved this with Asda's or Karen's help. When she got the confirmation that we'd received the funding she came up and told us. I could see her smiling and she ran up to us and said 'It's all done, it's all sorted.' She is amazing."
Community champion Helen Hallmark from our Chester Greyhound Park store, pictured below, handed over an Asda Spaces & Places grant for £10,000 to Crossroads Community Hub which has a meeting place cafe and food bank.
She said: "This money is going to be a great help to improve the communal spaces that they have by making it more welcoming and accessible to all.
"The money will go towards improving the cafe area by installing a counter area, general repairs to guttering and windows around the building, remedial repair work on the kitchen so that can be used to provide cooking classes for families and refreshments, redecorating the main communal spaces, upgrading the heating system and a general tidy up of the green area outside the building to enable better use in the summer for outdoor events."
Conquer Life, which is based at the Linacre Community Centre in Bootle, were awarded an Asda Foundation Spaces and Places grant of £22,000 which will go towards a new roof, pictured above.
The group thanked the Asda Foundation and our Bootle store's community champion Colette Joynson saying: "A massive shoutout to Colette for believing in our vision and always going the extra mile for our community."
Here's some of the other projects which has received Spaces & Places funding from the Asda Foundation.
Gill Gerrish, our Barrow store's community champion, below, presented a cheque for £17,500 to CandoFm which will be used to transform the community radio station into a multi-media hub for the whole community.
At St Austell, community champion Emma Riley, below, handed over a cheque for £25,000 to the Roseland Centre to enable their community centre to reopen.
Tracey Ballard, our Broadstair's stores community champion, was only too happy to present a Spaces & Places cheque for £20,120 to Thanet Countryside Trust which manages Monkton Nature Reservce, below. The money will be used to turn a derelict building into an Environmental Education Centre.
Children at Sheppey Sea Cadets were delighted when Claire Fosbeary, our Sittingbourne store's community champion, popped by with a Spaces & Places grant for £21,500, below. The money will go towards buying a new roof. Claire said: "It's an amazing local project."
Emily Cutts, director of G20 Works CIC in Glasgow, was delighted to receive a Spaces & Places grant for £24,484 from Ryan Rooney, our Maryhill store's community champion, below.
She said: "We are delighted to receive this funding from The Asda Foundation. After going unoccupied for a long time in a state of disrepair our building has already undergone some work so it is now usable and hosts a food bank, women’s and men’s groups, and addiction recovery groups. This funding will be vital in completing the refurbishment of the building and it’ll help us deliver essential wider services alongside vital work for young people.”
Andrea Black, store manager at our Stanley store and community champion Marsha Spence, visited Burnmoor Cricket Club to present them with a cheque for £15,585. Andrea said: "Marsha went above and beyond to secure this grant. She has such a passion for our community."
Community champion Theresa Gower from our Canterbury store presented a cheque for £21,555 to Whitstable Umbrella Community Centre, below. The grant will enable them to repair and replace damaged facia boards, windows and gutters to keep the building waterproof
