AGE Cymru Ceredigion has received £4,000 to help support older people in need thanks to Tesco’s Bags of Help scheme in Cardigan.

The charity helps older people in the county by providing services and support in direct response to their needs. Tesco’s donation will help fund more home visits which sees volunteers spend time with elderly residents who are unable to leave their home regularly.

The team at Age Cymru Ceredigion supported 5,000 people aged 50 plus in the area last year alone, and thanks to Tesco shoppers in Cardigan who chose to allocate the funding pot to the charity, the group can now commit to continuing their support towards even more residents.

Annmarie Butlin, finance director at Age Cymru Ceredigion, said: “We’re so grateful to everyone who voted for us to receive Tesco Bags of Help funding. It’s great to know we have a lot of supporters in the Cardigan area and it will enable us to continue with our outreach to care for those requiring extra support.

“Our volunteers are a breath of fresh air who play an integral part in supporting elderly people in the area. Some of the most popular reasons our volunteers come to us are to gain new skills, share knowledge, have fun or give something back to their community.

“We have a high percentage of elderly people who retire in Ceredigion and due to rural isolation it can be difficult for some to get out the house regularly to socialise.

“This is where our volunteers play such an integral role, spending up to two hours with residents on their home visits helping them and building a friendship.”

Tesco teamed up with Groundwork to launch its Bags of Help funding initiative, which awards grants to thousands of local community projects every year.

Rhodri Evans, Tesco’s community manager for Wales, said: “Across Wales our Bags of Help scheme supports a huge variety of projects that are important to the local communities our stores serve, with more than £5m awarded in Wales to date.

“It is great to see another grant going to a group doing great work in Ceredigion and we hope many older people in the community will benefit.”

Since launching in 2015, Bags of Help has awarded more than £79 million to more than 26,000 projects all over the UK.

Customers are able to vote for a Bags of Help project in store using a blue token given to them at the check-out. At the end of voting period, votes are collected and three groups in each of Tesco’s regions will be awarded funding.

For more information visit tesco.com/bagsofhelp