One Stop boosts charity support with Alzheimer’s Awareness fundraising events

One Stop boosts charity support with Alzheimer’s Awareness fundraising events

One Stop boosts charity support with Alzheimer’s Awareness fundraising events

25th July 2019

One Stop is driving home its support of Alzheimer’s Awareness through fundraising initiatives which include the legendary ‘cake bake’, which might seem like a small money raiser but when you put together One Stop’s portfolio of 950 stores and it’s 10,000 very determined colleagues, the collective results can be outstanding!

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Over 34,000 volunteer hours have been dedicated to charity and community work by One Stop colleagues who have also raised over £6 million for local and national causes. We raise funds via our ‘Carriers for Causes’ programme and we donate 5p for every carrier bag sold and have raised over £2.2 million for local causes.

Franchisee Alan Fincham held a bake sale for National Cupcake Day in his Attleborough store and raised an impressive £300: “We’re actively involved in our local community and try to organise at least two or three charity events a year to raise vital funds for worthy causes. The whole team enjoyed taking part in the bake sale, making lots of favourites including Victoria sponges and chocolate brownies.”

The day was a big success thanks to the team’s baking efforts, as Alan explains: “My team actually have a bit of a reputation for their baking, so when our regular customers know there’s going to be a bake sale on, they come in specially on that day! We also have lots of workplaces near to our store, so people come in and buy cakes, head back to the office to tell their colleagues who then come and buy more. We sold a lot of cakes on National Cupcake Day and we’re thrilled with the amount of money we raised!”

Alan is always looking for new ways to stay involved with the local community and says: “We always want to do something to raise money for charity, whether it’s a big event, like Pudsey visiting for Children in Need, or a cake sale. We are always well supported by our local community, so we like to give something back as often as we can.”

One Stop’s Managing Director, Jonny McQuarrie, says: “I’m delighted that our colleagues and customers are actively fundraising, supporting and raising awareness of the amazing work that the Alzheimer’s Society do. We are selling Alzheimer’s Society pins throughout the year, we supported National Cupcake Day in June and we’re looking forward to raising funds in December on National Elf Day! These are not only simply and often fun initiatives, but they help to bring the community together.”

One Stop colleagues are also becoming ‘Dementia Friends’, which is an initiative which helps the store team gain a greater understanding of how the disease affects an individual and how this can impact on performing everyday tasks including shopping. By becoming a Dementia Friend, they learn how to better help in situations where those with dementia may become confused or uncertain, for example by assisting them in choosing products or guiding them through paying.

Supporting all shoppers is important to One Stop, as Jonny continues: “For many elderly shoppers, we may be the only friendly face they see during the day, so we want to make sure we can help them as best as we can. We have created warm and welcoming stores across the UK, where all shoppers are treated with respect and kindness and can get what they need in one place, with a helping hand if needed.”

Jonny adds: “Community is at the heart of One Stop and our dedicated One Stop Community Team support all our franchisees with fundraising events and local initiatives up and down the UK. It’s great to see our team getting involved and making a real difference to the communities they work in.”