John Lewis Exeter's customers vote to support local charities
John Lewis Exeter has announced the next three charities to receive support through its new Community Matters scheme.
Community Matters allows John Lewis customers to be directly involved in deciding how much each good cause receives, via a token voting system by the front entrance. At the end of each round of voting, John Lewis splits a £3,000 donation according to the proportion of the customer vote they received.
The organisations to receive support from John Lewis Exeter are SOCOPS, Nightstop Devon and ABF The Soldiers' Charity. Community Matters allows charities to receive support as financial support, volunteering time from John Lewis Partners (staff), or products from its shops.
Nightstop Devon gained the majority of the vote with 46%, and received a donation from John Lewis of £1380. Linda Hutchings from Nightstop said: “We have 37 host families across the region in Exeter, East and Mid Devon and Teignbridge. This money will help pay for clothing, travel and toiletries for vulnerable teenagers when they stay with the host families.”
SOCOPS received a donation of £720 after gaining 24% of the vote. With John Lewis' support SOCOPS hope to be able to provide team building activities for the 12-15 age group. Dawn Chandler from SOCOPS said: “In order to engage this age group, we strive to deliver diverse ideas and activities that appeal to everyone.”
With the remaining 30% of the vote, ABF The Soldiers' Charity will use John Lewis’s donation of £900 to help towards costs such as chair lifts for injured soldiers and grants for families to help with debts which may have built up. Phil Hutchens from ABF said: “The money will be used solely in Devon, we rely on donations heavily so this £900 is very welcome.”
Kate Connock, branch manager of John Lewis Exeter, said: “Our customers are now familiar with Community Matters and the feedback has been great - people stop and take time to choose the charity they’d like to see John Lewis support. It is exciting for us to see how the vote has been split and for us to now make the donations to these very worthwhile community groups.”
Organisations who would like to be considered as part of Community Matters should visit John Lewis Exeter to pick up a nomination form from the Community Matters collection box by the front entrance in the store.
