Hartlepool Carers has been named as Sainsbury’s charity for this year. Pictured front right is store charity co-ordinator Katie Lisle with customer service assistant Sammi Smith, left, with staff from the carers’ centre in Lowthian Road, Hartlepool

KIND-HEARTED supermarket customers have chosen a town charity to benefit from their support.

Hartlepool Carers will be the official charity of Sainsbury’s, in Middle Warren, for the next 12 months.

Staff at the store, in Mulberry Rise, asked their customers and colleagues to nominate their chosen charity for the supermarket to support.

After scouring through the dozens of nominations, bosses at the store were extremely impressed with the work and passion of volunteers and staff at the Hartlepool Carers and offered their support.

The charity, based in Hartlepool’s Lowthian Road, supports people who are caring for ill or disabled people who are unable to look after themselves.

It is now set to receive thousands of pounds all raised by the generous staff and customers at the store.

Katie Lisle, PR ambassador at the store, said all of the staff are extremely proud to be supporting the Hartlepool Carers.

Katie said: “We received a lot of nominations but the passion and hard work of everyone at the Hartlepool Carers really shone through.

“It is a charity which is close to the heart of a lot of the members of staff, some of which are carers themselves and others who know people who act as carers and how difficult it can be.

“We have a whole host of fundraising activities planned for the next year all in support of the charity.

“We are also in talks about setting up a Christmas ball which would be fantastic.”

Tracy Jeffries, of Hartlepool Carers, said: “We’re really excited to be in partnership with Sainsbury’s Middle Warren over the next 12 months and would like to thank everyone in the community who voted for us.

“We will be planning fundraising activities with the store colleagues in the coming weeks and we hope that customers will support the store’s fundraising efforts in the coming months.”

As previously reported in the Hartlepool Mail, the store ended a successful fundraising partnership with Hartlepool and District Hospice earlier this year.

Les Blackett, store manager, said: “Hartlepool Carers is such a worthy local cause and we’re pleased and proud to be supporting it over the next 12 months.

“We’ll be letting our customers know of our fundraising plans, and we can hope they can join our colleagues in helping to support them.”

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/supermarket_supports_carers_1_3557569