- Tesco Ireland to donate €150,000 with three donations of €50,000 to ALONE, Age Action and Family Carers Ireland
- Separately, a €120,000 donation to be made available to over 450 community-based local causes via store-based Community Fund
Thursday 26th March 2020: Tesco Ireland has today announced that it will make a series of special donations to local and national organisations through its ongoing Community Fund to help the country’s most vulnerable people during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As part of the Community Fund, three special donations of €50,000 each will be made to ALONE, Age Action and Family Carers Ireland to support their efforts in helping the elderly, family carers and those most vulnerable members of our communities across the country.
A further €120,000 is being made available in support of hundreds of local good causes based in communities throughout Ireland. The 453 community-based projects who work with the elderly, local carers, disability services and health groups such as cancer services will be identified by each local Tesco store community. In a change to the Community Fund cycle, there will be no blue token votes from customers and these causes will receive an even share of the donation as soon as possible.
Launching the donations, Kari Daniels, CEO, Tesco Ireland said, “It is more important than ever that we do everything we can to support those who are working tirelessly to help the most vulnerable members of our local communities. Since 2014, the Tesco Community Fund has enabled us to support local communities across the country and we recognise the immediate need to extend that support further today and, in the weeks, ahead. In the spirit of every little helps, we hope that this support will help to provide vital resources to those who need it most right now.”
Minister for Rural and Community Development, Michael Ring T.D. commented “In the past number of weeks, communities throughout the country have rallied in support of those who are most vulnerable in this crisis. Everyone has a role to play, and it is heartening to see prominent retailers such as Tesco supporting the community response effort. We are reaching out to those who are most isolated through our extensive network of community and voluntary groups and this support is most welcome.”
Paddy Connolly, CEO Age Action said, ‘Age Action’s partnership with Tesco Ireland meant that they were quick to respond with supports for older people as they understood the situation. Age Action is very appreciative of the donation from Tesco Ireland which is helping us to respond to the COVID-19 emergency by reallocating and scaling up resources to ensure that older people are informed, connected and supported during this difficult period in Ireland. This donation supports us to provide additional information resources, practical supports in local communities and also our Call Safe and Home Safe Services which launched this week,”
ALONE CEO Seán Moynihan said, "Since we launched our COVID-19 Coronavirus helpline for older people two weeks ago, we have received more than 3,500 calls from older people who need support, advice, or sometimes just reassurance. All the while, we have continued to support every older person who regularly uses our services. This is phenomenal support from Tesco Ireland which will enable us to continue to provide direct support to thousands of older people nationwide during this difficult time. 'Every little helps' should be everyone's approach at the moment, and this generosity from Tesco Ireland will certainly help us a lot."
In response to the donation, Catherine Cox, Head of Communications and Carer Engagement with Family Carers Ireland said “This funding will be crucial in helping us to provide much needed practical supports to family carers including Protective Personal Equipment; online supports such as our newly developed and soon to be launched “Carers Coffee Club” with key health professionals providing online support and advice to family carers; and will allow us to extend of our Freephone Careline support (1800 240724) to family carers right across the country. We are extremely grateful to Tesco Ireland for this much needed support and recognition of the work of family carers”.
The Community Fund donations are one of a series of measures that Tesco has implemented to help the elderly and most vulnerable in communities across Ireland as the national effort continues during the pandemic. Last week, it launched priority in-store shopping hours dedicated to elderly and family carers pre-9am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Tesco has also implemented a range of measures to ensure the health and safety of colleagues and customers across its 151-store network, including:
- Clear physical distancing
- Plexiglass screens on all checkouts, self-checkouts and clear queuing guidelines
- Sanitiser and wipes for colleagues and customers as they enter the shop floor
- Additional cleaning in stores and of trolleys
The Community Fund helps a wide variety of local projects, supporting communities throughout Ireland by helping causes to reach their potential. Launched in July 2014, the Tesco Community Fund supports local good causes in the communities around its 151 stores throughout Ireland. Every eight weeks, each Tesco store donates up to €1,000 (€500 in smaller stores) between three local good causes in its community. To date, the Community Fund has helped over 16,000 local projects by donating over €4.6 million in total.
Further information on the Tesco Community Fund is available on www.tesco.ie/communityfund.
