Fundraising Tesco Community Champion helps Peterborough’s homeless prepare for winter

One of Peterborough’s leading homeless charities has received a much-needed donation of warm clothes and other winter essentials from a dedicated community fundraiser.

Sharron Toms, who is Community Champion at Tesco’s Extra store in Hampton, spent much of the summer running fundraising initiatives in aid of Light Project Peterborough, which provides invaluable support to the city’s rough sleepers.

Sharron told the Peterborough Telegraph how she became motivated to help:

“I’ve been talking to the Light Project throughout the year [and] I asked them what they really needed that would be really useful,” she said.

“They said they were really desperate for hats, gloves, socks and scarves [as] it’s not the sort of thing people think about donating.”

Sharron quickly set about organising fundraising events, both in-store and out in the local community, that eventually saw her raise more than £400.

This enabled her to buy the required items separately and then put them together into packs so that each recipient would receive a full ‘bundle’ of hat, gloves, socks and scarf.

“I raised enough money, doing pre-loved book sales and tombola stalls to purchase enough to make 100 individual packs [that] can be easily distributed during the colder months,” she said.

Ever-thoughtful, Sharron saw an opportunity to not only help rough sleepers but also their companions.

“They have several regular dogs that also attend, so food and coats for them was an obvious addition,” she explained, adding: “they get cold too.”

The Light Project’s fundraising officer Matt Edgley said the charity was “very grateful” for the support shown by Sharron and Tesco.

“Thanks to Sharron’s efforts, we’ve received numerous donations throughout the year, all of which have been much appreciated by our guests at the Garden House.”

Sharron was typically modest about her contribution.

''It’s my absolute pleasure as a Tesco Community Champion to be able to help,” she said: “I wish I could do more.”

The effervescent fundraiser – who says she is “always busy” – will now be focusing her efforts on other endeavours which will invariably benefit local people.

“I love that I can try and do something that will make things better for someone,” she said.

“There’s always someone that needs help.”