Spotlighting Partnerships: Tesco Lend a Helping Hand | Charity News

In our second corporate partnership spotlight, we take a look at how Tesco has supported BCHC Charity through monetary grants, volunteering, and donating items to help us continue to make a difference for patients, service users, and our staff.

 

The charity has supplied emergency food parcels for Church Road and Bucklands District Nurses to give out to their patients, thanks to a £1,500 grant from Tesco Hodge Hill. The funding allowed us to create 60 food parcels containing a range of non-perishable goods to be given to those on the District Nursing caseload who may be experiencing financial hardship. Over the festive period, we were also able to include a small Christmas pudding, chocolates and mince pies as a gift to the patients receiving the parcels.

A donation of £200 from Tesco New Oscott enabled BCHC Charity to set up a ‘baby bank’ at Featherstone Children’s Centre in Erdington. The charity provided 5 Moses baskets to help prevent co-sleeping, and 10 baby bibs. Kelly Hunt, a Community Engagement Worker at the centre, said, “The Moses baskets purchased will reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in the Erdington and Sutton district. Parents will have a Moses basket to support their child to have a better start in life, rather than co-sleeping with a parent.”

Further funding has helped us deliver our Meals in a Mug project, as well as upcoming projects such as support bags for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who are living in temporary accommodation in New Oscott & Quinton.

Tesco first started volunteering for BCHC Charity in February 2023, where 4 Tesco Community Champions came together to assemble 800 medals for the Healthy Community Fun Day at the MAC. They also attended the Fun Day, as well as our All Age Autism event , to help ensure their smooth running by assisting with creating goodie bags for attendees, helping on the registration desk, guiding people around the various stands, and supporting with activity stations at the events. Linda Kelly, a Tesco Community Champion said before attending the All Age Autism event, “We are all looking forward to helping again at such a good cause and especially something so close at heart to myself.”

The team have also been a huge help at our Elf Day in December 2024, lending a hand to wrap 600 presents for inpatients , as well as attending various sessions for packing our Winter Support Bags , which were designed to help those most vulnerable keep warm and well at home during the winter months. Without the help of volunteers like the Tesco Community Champions, we would not have been able to deliver such a large quantity of gifts or winter bags as quickly as we did, and we cannot thank them enough for their support. 

Thanks to various Tesco stores, BCHC Charity has received many donations of items that have been either gifted to patients, services users or Team BCHC staff to bring a smile. For example, in October 2023, Tesco Aston Lane donated 120 children’s and 8 adults Halloween costumes which were given to the Children’s Palliative Care Team, Paediatric Speech & Language Therapy Team, and Featherstone Children’s Centre. Kelly Hunt, Community Engagement Worker at Featherstone Children’s Centre said, “thank you for the lovely Halloween costumes, they are beautiful, and families will really appreciate them.” Tesco Aston Lane, New Oscott, and Spring Hill have also donated mince pies and festive treats to be given out to BCHC staff at our winter wellbeing events. One staff member said, “It’s so nice to see local stores gifting us with treats; a mince pie may not sound like much, but on a stressful day it can be just the thing to brighten your mood!”

Tesco stores have also been regular donors of cakes and other treats for the NHS Birthday Bash events; celebrated in July to mark the anniversary of the NHS, these events help us to both treat Team BCHC staff to wellbeing boosts and fun activities, as well as raise funds to continue in our mission to enhance care, improve patient experience, and support our amazing colleagues. 

As you can see, Tesco has had a huge impact on the people of Birmingham thanks to their support to BCHC Charity. Campaign Manager Angela Corry said, “I would like to say a huge thank you to Tesco, particularly the Community Champions who are always so supportive, be that with donations of food or clothing, volunteering or grants to help communities close to the Tesco stores”. 

If you are a company that would like to discuss how you could support BCHC Charity, please do not hesitate to contact us at bchc.charity@nhs.net .