Central Co-op Celebrates Colleagues this Volunteers’ Week
Posted by sam bishop | Published: 02/06/2023
Today marks the start of Volunteers’ Week, running from 1st to 7th June, and Central Co-op is joining in the celebrations by showing the importance of volunteering time and effort in the communities it serves.
Central Co-op colleagues get three days of paid volunteering leave as a part of their employment with the Society, and colleagues have consistently shown a willingness to go above and beyond when it comes to helping out, ensuring the Society remains a part of the communities it serves.
Brendan Smith of Central Co-op’s George James and Son (Inc Brewins) Funeral Directors is an example of a colleague who is helping their community, helping to sponsor March Library as part of the Warm Spaces campaign earlier this year. This included assisting with a charity cake sale in March Library in February, raising money both for Warm Spaces and Dementia UK.
Charity partner Dementia UK is a big motivator in terms of charitable activities at the Society, having raised over £1.9 million to date from large-scale activities across the Society as well as local level activities like cake sales. This includes the cake sales held at the King’s Coronation parties at several stores, seeing colleagues celebrate with customers and Members for the occasion.
Saffron Brook in Leicester is another example of the excellent work being done by Central Co-op volunteers, as pictured below. They visited the location multiple times to cut some of the overgrown raspberry bushes and support wildlife, along with clearing weeds as a part of the important river restoration work.
This month will see 15 volunteers from Central Co-op help to decorate the Mencap space in Halesworth, Suffolk too, helping to paint the rooms so that Mencap can continue to deliver excellent work for the local community.
For further details, head to the Central Co-op website, Facebook, and Twitter. Details on becoming a Member can be found on the Membership site.
About Central Co-op
Central Co-op is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK, with a heritage stretching back over 175 years and interests in food, funeral, floral and property investment.
Owned by hundreds of thousands of members, its 7,700 colleagues serve customers across 440 plus trading sites in 21 counties in the East and West Midlands, Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
Its purpose is to create a sustainable Society for all.
It actively campaigns for food justice and works with FareShare Midlands and a network of local food banks. It also adds £1 to every Healthy Start Voucher redeemed in store and supports six schools in partnership with Magic Breakfasts.
The Society embraces inclusivity and equality and is a signed-up member to the Business in the Community (BITC) Race at Work Charter. The Society is also a member of Diversity in Retail and it is fully committed to addressing the impacts of climate change by reducing carbon and food waste, increasing recycling and investment in community Sustainable Spaces funded by the carrier bag levy. It recently launched its Malawi Partnership to support farmers and producers in the country through the Co-operative International Trading Development Fund.
It invests a percentage of its trading profit into local communities through its Community Dividend Fund scheme which has seen over £109,769.25 shared out between 121 good causes in 2022.
Press office contact: Sam Bishop, PR Specialist
Contact details:
sam.bishop@centralengland.coop
07385 048048