Rustington store’s appeal to help good causes

It was all smiles for Jamie's Wish last year as Sainsbury's chosen charity

The Rustington store, at the Rustington Retail Park, New Road, launched the voting stage of its annual charity support scheme last Wednesday.

It’s the fifth year of the supermarket’s local charity partner initiative, which gives registered charities the chance to receive a year’s worth of fund-raising and awareness support from store staff, as well as that much-needed backing from the customers.

Store manager Rafe Overy said this was a fantastic way to help support good causes close to home.

Last year an impressive sum of more than £2,000 was raised for Littlehampton-based charity Jamie’s Wish, with everything from a trolley raffle to a quiz night helping to bolster the kitty.

Now Rafe hopes to surpass this figure, for this coming year’s beneficiary.

He said: “Our work with previous local charity partners over the years has been really successful in letting our customers have their say.

“We hope our customers can take the time to vote in the coming weeks and give a local charity that’s close to their hearts the chance for us to support them.”

Customers can now vote for the favourite cause by visiting the store and filling in a nomination form.

And, for the first time this year, people will also be able to nominate their preferred beneficiary online, by visiting www.sainsburys.co.uk/localcharity and downloading a PDF form to print off, or by emailing nominations to [email protected]

All nominations should include the name and address of the Sainsbury’s store, the contact details for the charity and why it is being nominated.

Voting closes on Wednesday (May 15). with the winner being announced at next month. Forms can be returned to the store.

The Rustington Sainsbury’s first began supporting the initiative in 2009.

Since then it has raised more than £6,000 for good causes across the area.

Nationally, over the last four years, Sainsbury’s stores and their customers have helped thousands of charities and organisations across the UK through fund-raising and volunteering and have raised more than £5m to support communities.