Cash For Your Community: Good causes will share £20,000 prize fund once more

Once more the Shropshire Star is joining forces with our partners at Enterprise Flex-E-Rent to hand out donations of up to £5,000 to charities, voluntary groups and community organisations across Shropshire and Mid Wales.

Since its launch in 2015, Cash For Your Community has handed over 180 cheques to 139 different groups, totalling £80,000.

This money has been used to help the often unsung organisations which do so much to make our region a better place.

Applications for the 2019 Cash For Your Community scheme open in January, when we will be looking for 35 groups to help.

Once the groups have been chosen, it is our readers who will decide how the money is shared out by collecting tokens that are printed in the Shropshire Star.

Each organisation will get a share of the money depending on how many tokens they have been able to collect.

This year we handed over £5,000 to Blood Bikes, a team of motorcyclists who give up their free time to transport vital medical supplies to hospitals across the county. They used the money to improve their coverage in North Shropshire.

Fundraising manager Lynne Stone said: “We receive no funding for the service we operate for NHS trusts in Shropshire, Staffordshire and south Cheshire.

“We help the NHS save lives, money and improve the quality of life of poorly patients. We deliver urgent medical samples such as blood, platelets, and frozen breast milk free of charge between hospitals and pathology labs on motorbikes ridden by our advanced qualified riders and managed by our controllers.”

Another major beneficiary was The Severn Centre Trust, which received £2,000 for improvements to the the open-air swimming pool at Highley.

Last year, we gave £5,000 to The Movement Centre, based at the Robert Jones and Orthopaedic Hospital in Gobowen, near Oswestry. It used the money to buy a machine known as 'the magic carpet', which helps children with conditions such as cerebral palsy improve their ability to move about, and in some cases help them to walk.

“It was fantastic for us, it was a complete surprise,” she said.

“We had no idea we would be in the top three, we were just delighted to have been selected.

“We have been a charity for quite a long time, but we had been quiet about it.

“As well as getting the money, all the coverage in the Shropshire Star was really good, and it was lovely to meet the people from the other organisations.”

Tom McDonald of Enterprise Flex-E-Rent said he was delighted to be working with the Shropshire Star once more.

"Having seen first-hand the dedication displayed by local groups who have participated in Cash For Your Community in recent years, it is to say the least awe inspiring," he said.

"We at Enterprise pride ourselves on our founding values, working to strengthen our bonds with the communities our customers and colleagues live and work in.

"As a proud Shropshire resident, we are delighted to again be supporting fantastic charities and community groups throughout the region as part of the Cash For Your Community campaign."