Three good cause groups from the North of Scotland have benefited from the latest cycle of funding from Scotmid’s Membership initiative – Community Connect.
Highland Cycle Ability Centre, Alyth Youth Partnership and Positive Steps were each awarded a share of £25,000 funding following a vote by Scotmid members in the North region, which encompasses, Inverness, Aberdeen, Perth and Dundee.
After an exciting ballot at the AGM in Dundee on Tuesday evening, Highland Cycle Ability Centre, who plan to use the Community Connect funding to launch an outreach programme for a cycling service aimed predominately at youngsters and young adults with physical or learning disabilities, accumulated the most votes and were awarded £15,000.
Perthshire’s Alyth Youth Partnership received the second most votes and were awarded £7,500 while Dundee-based Positive Steps 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 North Region scanned their Community Connect card each time they shopped in store to receive a Community Connect vote over a six-month period. Members then used these votes at the North Region Annual General Meeting held in Dundee on Tuesday 1 May to allocate £25,000 to the three good cause groups.
Based near Inverness, Highland Cycle Ability Centre welcome over 2,500 people per year to use specially adapted cycling equipment on a purpose-built, safe and secure cycling track and now they plan to take the track to young people, who will benefit from the service.
Scotmid Co-operative Chief Executive John Brodie said: “Congratulations to Highland Cycle Ability Centre, who have been 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.
Image (left to right): Alyth Youth Partnership manager George Annan, Highland Cycle Ability Centre Chair Joanna McGregor and Positive Steps Hygiene Project Leader Michelle McGraw.
Click here to find out who the winners were in the West member region.
Click here to find out who the new shortlisted good cause groups are – these groups will receive a financial award at the Scotmid Ordinary General meeting in October 2018.