Three good cause groups from the West of Scotland have benefited from Scotmid’s latest Community Membership initiative – Community Connect.
Street Connect, West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare and Glasgow East End Community Carers were each awarded a share of £25,000 following a vote by Scotmid members.
After an exciting ballot at the AGM in Bellshill on Monday evening, Street Connect, who plan to use the Community Connect funding to support disadvantaged individuals dealing with addiction problems and related life-controlling issues such as mental health, homelessness and isolation, captured the imagination of members who used their votes to award them £15,000. West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare received the second most votes and were awarded £7,500 while Glasgow East End Community Carers were awarded £2,500.
Community Connect enabled members to award good cause groups with funding of up to £15,000, generated via the proceeds of sales from single-use carrier bags.
Each member in Scotmid’s West Region received a Community Connect card which they scanned each time they shopped in store to receive a Community Connect vote over a six-month period. Members then used these votes at the West Region Annual General Meeting held in Bellshill on Monday 30 April to allocate £25,000 to the three good cause groups.
Based in Glasgow, volunteers at Street Connect’s Outreach Cafés offer a friendly welcome, a listening ear and information on the range of services available which includes rehabilitation support.
Funding from the Community Connect award will now be used to refurbish Street Connect’s Outreach Café in Glasgow city centre – improving the facilities and the service provided.
Scotmid Co-operative Chief Executive John Brodie said: “Congratulations to Street Connect, who are the first good cause group in Scotmid’s West Member Region to be awarded £15,000 funding through our Community Connect initiative, which is funded from the sale of single-use carrier bags.
“The outcome was decided by the votes cast by our members and it is great to be able to award all the short-listed groups with funding to enable them to continue the good work that they do.
“Our core purpose is to serve our communities and improve people’s everyday lives, so it is very pleasing to see Community Connect continue to develop into an extremely worthwhile initiative for our members and local good cause groups – bringing people together and bringing worthwhile projects to life.”
In addition to Community Connect, Scotmid Co-operative’s Community Grant programme continues to grow in importance and popularity – last year over 1,000 local community groups applied and were awarded a grant of up to £500 and these projects range from Primary Schools’ breakfast clubs to communal garden renovations.
Top picture (left to right): Clair Coyle from West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare, Julie McAddock from Street Connect and Kaye Ramage from Glasgow East End Community Carers.