Tesco Luton Shoppers donate £1,500 to Local Air Ambulance

Tesco shoppers in Luton have chosen to give £1,500 to East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) as part of its Stronger Starts campaign.

EAAA is a charity providing advanced critical care 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to the most seriously ill and injured people in the region by air and road.

The donation from Tesco is supporting initiatives such as ‘Crucial Crew’ which is training for primary school children. This sees emergency services come together to teach young people life-saving skills.

Joshua Lawrence, Community Training Programme Manager for East Anglian Air Ambulance says: “We are incredibly grateful to Tesco and Groundworks for their generous donation of £1,500 towards the EAAA Community Training Programme. This support means that children in our local communities will be equipped with the skills to perform CPR and how to confidently use a defibrillator in the event of a cardiac arrest.

“Bystander CPR is a vital step in the chain of survival. With the support of Tesco, we’re able to help fund sessions to create more lifesavers to improve outcomes for cardiac arrest patients, when every second counts.”

Tesco Stronger Starts is a £5m grant programme in partnership with Groundwork UK. The grants are there to help organisations provide educational programmes, sports equipment, nutritious food, and healthy activities to children.

Keith Jackson, Tesco’s Community Manager for East, and Midlands added: “It’s great to see EAAA showing such commitment to educating young people on life-saving skills. It’s organisations like EAAA why our Tesco Stronger Start’s grant programme exists as it shows first-hand how our donations can positively impact local communities”.

Organisations can apply via Groundwork for a grant by going to www.tescoplc.com/strongerstarts.

Successful applications will go to a vote in local Tesco stores where customers choose which of the three projects they’d like to support by voting with a blue token.

Since Tesco launched its Community Grants programme in 2016, more than £100million has been given to more than 50,000 local schools and community groups.