Scottish Highland’s charity Fox and Friends has been awarded a £10,000 grant from SPAR, which is providing funds to local voluntary or community organisations and charities who need it most through its 2023 Community Cashback scheme.
Lisa Davidson, founder of Fox & Friends, set up the charity with the aim to create a range of services which were accessible to everyone to support people who wanted to come together to learn, connect and thrive following the COVID lockdown.
This includes Interactive Story Sessions, ASN Family Support Group, Clubs & Activities for Adults as well as events for communities based across the Highlands.
Lisa commented:
“We believe that it is now more important than ever for people to come together and build relationships in their communities and we are passionate about making that happen in any way we can.
“Everyone should have access to activities and support in their hometown, and no-one should feel alone or isolated in our little corner of the world.
“That’s why our vision is to offer a variety of affordable services that bring people together in their community, to have fun, build relationships and seek support if they need it.”
The SPAR Community Cashback campaign launched for a second year this April to give back to local communities that need support, and will have donated £100,000 across the UK on behalf of their shoppers.
To find out more about charities in the UK and how people help out, SPAR commissioned a study of 2,000 adults and discovered that a huge 74% of Scots have volunteered, the top region in the UK to get involved with local causes.
On average, volunteers in Scotland spend 8.5 hours giving back each month and 57% would like to volunteer in 2023.
A quarter (23%) have also started to help others more this year, one of the highest regions in the country.
Lisa Davidson commented on how the grant from SPAR will help Fox and Friends:
“As a new charity with such big ambitions our lack of space was beginning to hold us back and this fund has just removed that obstacle.
“We are now able to create a suitable space to work from and it will allow us to go ahead and purchase what we need to run the other services.
“The Community Cashback scheme is allowing us to thrive and grow with demand!”
Julie Carr, Senior Marketing Executive at CJ Lang, award winning service providers to over 300 independent and company-owned SPAR stores throughout Scotland, commented:
“It was great to meet Lisa and join one of her Fox and Friends sessions to see what our £10,000 donation will be spent on.
“It’s clear that Lisa puts in a lot of time and effort to support a large geographic area as well as a wide age range with her various group sessions.
“Our donation will allow Lisa to source storage and office space for the charity which will in turn allow her to continue to expand and support more people in the Highlands boosting the health and wellbeing of all those who attend.”
Suzanne Dover, Brand and Marketing Director at SPAR said:
“We believe in nurturing our neighbourhoods and supporting the communities we serve, and this scheme is another way we are helping to do this, especially now when deserving local organisations need some extra financial support.”
Find out more at https://www.spar.co.uk/community/community-cashback/
