Autism Wishes Chosen As Sainsbury’s Charity Of The Year

A Wrexham based charity will receive a year’s worth of fundraising after it was voted Sainsbury’s charity of the year.

Sainsbury’s Wrexham yesterday announced that local charity Autism Wishes will receive a year’s worth of fundraising and awareness support. Autism Wishes will be the new Local Charity for the Wrexham store.

Autism Wishes seeks to educate and raise awareness of Autism, as well as granting wishes to children and adults who have Autism Spectrum Condition.

To celebrate the announcement, a launch day will be taking place at the store today. The store team will also be fundraising for the new charity by holding a bag pack on Friday 25th July.

Jo Perera from Autism Wishes said: “We know the success that the Local Charity partnership has brought to many charities in the Wrexham area, so when we received the recent phone call to tell us the news, we were thrilled. We hope the partnership will help raise awareness of our cause to the store’s customers and will help us develop the important service we provide to the community”.

The retailer’s Local Charity scheme is now in its sixth year and gives customers the chance to vote for their favourite local charity to be considered to receive a year’s worth of support from their Sainsbury’s store. The scheme has raised over £6 million to support local charities since 2009.

The Wrexham Store situated in Plas Coch Retail Park, has had great success in supporting previous local charities and last year raised over £10,000 for Dynamics. Dynamics will be using the money to purchase equipment and organise summer activities.

Customers had a huge say in this year’s announcement and voted in-store and online between 28th May and 8th June. The store colleagues then decided that Autism Wishes were the best charity for them to work with to make a real difference.

Sainsbury’s Wrexham’s Store Manager Peter Briggs said: “We’ve had a great response from our customers this year, both through in-store and online votes. We’re delighted to have chosen a charity which touched many of our colleagues’ hearts. We will now be working closely with the charity to ensure they really benefit from being our Local Charity for the next 12 months”.

More information on Autism Wishes can be found on their website here: www.autismwishes.co.uk