Weston General’s Scanner Appeal reaps rewards from Co-op shoppers

A donation of over £720 from Co-op’s Local Community Fund brings the Scanner Appeal ever-closer to its £400,000 target.

The Co-op Local Community Fund for Weston-super-Mare and Worle, supports three chosen causes. Members receive a five per cent reward for any purchases they make of own-brand products and services, with a further one per cent directly benefiting local causes.

Weston General Hospital’s scanner appeal is one of those lucky groups and in a recent presentation at the Worle store, the League of Friends, representing the appeal, received a cheque for £720.36.

League of Friends chairman, June Stephen, said: “We are absolutely thrilled that the scanner appeal is one of the chosen organisations by the Co-op Local Community Fund. It is wonderful that local people are raising money for local causes and this donation is a further boost to our appeal.

June added: “On behalf of the League of Friends I would like to thank Co-op and all the members who have chosen to support the scanner appeal.”

The scheme allows Co-op members to log into their account and choose which cause they wish to pledge their donation to, with any unallocated donations being split between the nominated groups towards the end of the year. Nationally, there’s £5 million waiting to be allocated to local causes.

If you want to support the scanner appeal, why not become a Co-op member today by visiting https://www.coop.co.uk/membership.

Members of the League of Friends and staff at the Co-op store in Worle are holding a joint fundraising weekend for the scanner appeal later in the summer. Co-op staff will also be visiting Weston General Hospital in the coming months to speak to people about signing up for memberships and to help current members understand how they can choose to pledge their donations to the scanner appeal. 

The scanner appeal is a joint campaign run by the League of Friends and Weston Area Health NHS Trust. It was established in April 2016 to raise £400,000 for new life-saving digital scanning equipment and to refurbish the hospital’s x-ray department. So far, fundraising efforts by both staff and community members have helped raise 80% of the target.

Photograph (L-R): Area manager Anthony Wright, store manager James Marsh, Co-op member pioneer Kym Withers, League of Friends chairman June Stephen, League of Friends member and deputy chair David Boughey.