Central England Co-op team show community spirit to raise vital funds for Twycross Zoo
Posted by james brindle | Published: 28/07/2020
A team of retail heroes at Central England Co-op in Atherstone have raised over £1,000 in the fight to support Twycross Zoo survive uncertain times caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.
A 10-strong team of colleagues, who have been working around the clock to keep the local community stocked with food and essentials, walked the 16-mile round trip from the Station Street Supermarket to the zoo to support its ‘Summer of Survival’ fundraising campaign.
The campaign, which has received backing from Dame Judi Dench, has been launched after the popular attraction had to close its gates to the public for three months and although now open, can not except anywhere near full capacity meaning its future is seriously under threat.
For the team at Central England Co-op they were determined to show their support to such an important part of their local community and have raised over £1,100 through the sponsored walk.
Customer Service Assistant at the Station Street store Chris Crouch helped to organise the fundraiser and she said as a member of the zoo it was a cause close to her heart.
She said: “I am a member of the zoo and we have a former colleague who now works there so we really wanted to do something to help.
“I thought of the idea to walk to the zoo to raise money and put up a poster at work to see if anyone wanted to take part and was overwhelmed that so many colleagues signed up.
“I was only expecting to raise £200-£300 so to have raised well over £1,000 is great and I have been really, really touched by the support from colleagues and family.
“We were really fortunate with the weather and we had a really enjoyable time doing the walk and I’m so glad we have been able to help.”
Chris said Twycross Zoo was really important to the local community around Atherstone and it had been concerning to hear its future and that of the animals could be under threat.
She said: “It is local to us and has been going over 50 years so it means a lot to the community around here and although it is now open again it is still in a very precarious position.
“It has been nice to help in a small way and hopefully they can have a strong summer to help them get through these uncertain times.”
Anyone who would like to donate to Twycross Zoo to help secure its future can visit http://twycrosszoo.org/donate
People can keep up to date with what is happening in their local community by visiting a dedicated online hub at www.centralengland.coop/updates
Notes to editors
About Central England Co-operative
Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK with interests in food, funeral, floral, travel and property investment.
Co-operatives have always been there for their communities; they were formed to protect them and help them flourish.
Our 7,900 colleagues serving our Members and customers work hard to ensure that co-operative values, principles and spirit flow through everything we do to help support and improve our local communities.
Owned by hundreds of thousands of Members, we have over 430 trading outlets across 16 counties including West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
We are proud of our reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.
We invest a percentage of our trading profit into local communities through our Community Dividend Fund scheme, have donated over £1.3 million to our corporate charity partner Dementia UK and also operate a pioneering food redistribution partnership with FareShare Midlands so unsold food goes to those in need.
Visit www.centralengland.coop for more information or follow us on Facebook or Twitter using @mycoopfood
Press office contacts: Rob Smyth and James Brindle
Phone - 01543 421390
Email - publicrelations@centralengland.coop