Tesco pledges to give to GOSH at 500 stores

Up to 100 volunteers and staff from GOSH will join supermarket workers with buckets over the next four days

(PA)

Tesco has backed The Independent’s Give to GOSH campaign with a four-day fundraising drive at 500 of its stores in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

From 21 January, the selected stores will be hosting collections for the appeal with staff and volunteers holding “fun day” themed events to encourage shoppers to donate to GOSH.

Up to 100 volunteers and staff from GOSH will join supermarket workers with buckets at 500 London stores over the next four days. Josh Hardie, corporate responsibility director at Tesco, said the company was fundraising to support the “fabulous care” provided at GOSH.

He said: “The work of Great Ormond Street Hospital has touched many of our customers and colleagues. That’s why we’re delighted to be supporting the Give to GOSH appeal.”

Amit Aggarwal, director of corporate partnerships at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, said he was delighted.

“We are hugely grateful to Tesco for hosting this bucket collection across all 500 of their London stores. With the incredible support of their colleagues and customers, we hope this will be another fantastic boost to the Give to GOSH appeal.

“Please dig deep and donate your spare change. All of the money raised will be used to support some of the hospital’s most urgent needs.”

The fundraising initiative from Tesco follows major corporate donations from Morgan Stanley, Trailfinders and RBC.

The appeal has also had a host of high-profile celebrity backers including Sir Elton John, the EastEnders actress Barbara Windsor, who was treated at the hospital for a rheumatism in her leg as a child, and Johnny Depp. The actor credits GOSH with saving his daughter’s life after she fell gravely ill while he filmed Sweeney Todd in the UK.

The Tesco branch in Russell Square in central London is the nearest supermarket to GOSH. Its store manager, Justin Hall, said the appeal was important to his staff as they often had parents of patients from GOSH shopping in the store.

Tesco will also be holding GOSH-themed “fun days” alongside GOSH volunteers at its Regent Street and Covent Garden stores. Pauline Adams, a volunteer guide at GOSH, will be fundraising in a Tesco store over the weekend.

She said: “Holding a bucket is nothing compared to what the children and their families go through and the total dedication of the staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital. I’m always amazing at the constant generosity of the public during bucket collections. It is so heartening when people drop in their cash.”

Money raised in the Give to GOSH campaign will go towards a specialist unit for children awaiting heart transplants, research into treatments for children with rare diseases and the hospital’s patient and family support programme.

The appeal will also help fund the Louis Dundas Centre, a groundbreaking centre dedicated to the practice and research of children’s palliative care.

To Give to GOSH go to: http://ind.pn/1Mydxqt

To find out more about our appeal and why we're supporting GOSH go to: http://ind.pn/1MycZkr

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