Volunteers raise £595.08

BAND OF GOLD. Lislagan P7 pupil, Rhianna Todd displays the 'Loom Bands' she created along with Jackie Brogan, Tesco Community Champion and Store Manager Geoff Purcell which raised £106.00 for Diabetes UK by selling her product in memory of her late Father Simon who passed away in December 2013 from Diabetes.INBM27-14 033SC.

The Big Collection is a nationwide fundraising event for Diabetes UK and this year it took place in 328 Tesco UK stores during Diabetes Week. Many enthusiastic volunteers collected donations and helped raise awareness of diabetes, a condition that affects one in seven.

Nationally 3,000 volunteers gave up their time to collect for the charity, hoping to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds overall. This money will support the 3.2 million people living with diabetes in the UK and help find the further 630,000 who remain undiagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

Heather Causer, Diabetes UK Volunteer Development Support Officer for Northern Ireland, said: “We are delighted that so many people from the community came together to support the Big Collection in Ballymoney. With the help of volunteers we were able to collect donations from Tesco customers and raise awareness of a condition that affects 3.8 million people. We’d like to thank the volunteers for getting into the fundraising spirit and making the weekend so enjoyable and we’re grateful to the Tesco customers for their kind donations.”

The weekend was organised as part of a major National Charity Partnership between Tesco and Diabetes UK. The partnership aims to support the millions of people who have to live with diabetes every day; help hundreds of thousands of people take action to reduce their risk of Type 2 diabetes; and fund investment into ground-breaking research for a Type 1 vaccine.

People interested in supporting Diabetes UK, should visit www.diabetes.org.uk/be-awesome for volunteering opportunities and for fundraising opportunities visit www.diabetes.org.uk/Get_involved/Raising_funds/.