A New Leaf are bidding to secure a cash boost of either £4,000, £2,000 or £1,000 from Tesco’s Bags of Help scheme to help green grey streets in Manchester city centre.
Tesco teamed up with Groundwork to launch its community funding scheme which sees the grants raised from carrier bag sales in Tesco stores being awarded to local projects.
Three groups in every Tesco region have been shortlisted to receive the cash award and shoppers are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they think should take away the top grant.
A New Leaf is one of the groups on the shortlist and working closely with leading environmental charity City of Trees hopes to create a new green urban walkway from Piccadilly train station, through the Northern Quarter into Manchester’s city centre by planting new street trees.
A newly established charity, A New Leaf has been set-up to improve greening projects and develop green space across Manchester city centre. They have already successfully fundraised and planted trees with City of Trees on Stevenson Square (pictured) and Tariff Street and are now looking to plant more trees on Hilton Street.
The group have already secured part-funding for the new trees and are now calling on Tesco Customers to help get the next phase of the project off the ground.
James Field, Chair of A New Leaf, said: “Everyone involved in A New Leaf is extremely passionate about transforming Manchester city centre into a greener, more beautiful place for everyone who lives, works and visits there. We really need your votes to help us achieve this to make our city a better place for generations to come!”
Pete Stringer, City of Trees says; “We really need to plant more trees in the City Centre because they provide us with so many important benefits such as removing pollution from the air, cooling us down during heatwaves and capturing rainfall which helps to reduce flash flooding.”
Voting is open in all Tesco stores throughout September and October. Customers will cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop.
Alec Brown, Head of Community at Tesco, said: “We are absolutely delighted to open the voting for September and October. There are some fantastic projects on the shortlists and we can’t wait to see these come to life in hundreds of communities.”
Groundwork’s National Chief Executive, Graham Duxbury, said: “We’ve been thrilled to see the diversity of projects that have applied for funding, ranging from outdoor classrooms, sports facilities, community gardens, play areas and everything in between. We’re looking forward to learning the results of the customer vote and then supporting each group to bring their project to life.”
Funding is available to community groups and charities looking to fund local projects that bring benefits to communities. Anyone can nominate a project and organisations can apply online. To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp
