Community

Our vision is to make a real difference to the communities we serve, so community is at the heart of everything we do together with our members.

Our community pillars

We aim to put our local co-operative at the heart of the community by following our three community pillars.

We create society links with the community by:

• making more communities accessible
• championing community initiatives in-store
• make it easy for our members to donate to community initiatives

We champion key community topics like:

• the islands aging population
• the health and wellbeing of islanders
• local social inclusion
• the impact on our next generation

We promote the Co-op way by:

• promoting co-operative principles and what makes us unique
• supporting local
• being ambassadors for environmental causes

How we help charities and community causes

Giving back is at the heart of our values. We support various worthy causes through:

• hosting bag packing and charity events in our stores 
• supporting charities through our collection boxes, 'Donate Your Dividend', and food donation box schemes 
• supporting local charities with fundraising prizes and small sponsorship
• providing corporate sponsorship to a number of clubs, events and organisations
• donating to projects which aim to protect our local environment through our annual Eco fund
• funding charitable causes through the annual Helping Hands scheme in both Jersey and Guernsey
• our colleagues working throughout the year to raise money for various local organisations and initiatives
• giving out over £57,000 in discounts each year to support the Jersey's elderly community through David Kirsch's voucher initiative.

In 2018, we:

1. donated nearly £164,000 to charities and organisations in the Channel Islands
2. supported over 260 different charities, schools and organisations to raise money through fundraising events in stores
3. helped a further 120 local charities with fundraising prizes and sponsorship

As well as putting the local community at our heart, our business focuses on environmental responsibility, animal welfare, ethical trading, and choosing Fairtrade when we buy from producers in the developing world.