Rainbows Hospice given festive boost with donations of mince pies and bananas

An East Midlands hospice’s Christmas celebrations both virtual and in-person have been boosted thanks to donations from retailer Central England Co-op.

For the second year running, Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People received a huge donation of mince pies to support a ‘virtual’ Christmas party for families.

The Loughborough-based hospice holds a huge annual Christmas bash for all of its families but due to the Coronavirus pandemic the celebrations have had to go online for the past two years, with the hospice providing party packs to each family to join in the fun at home.

Kind-hearted teams from across Central England Co-op jumped at the chance to give their support again, with stores in Quorn and Rothley among those to add to a donation of 250 mince pies to help boost the party packs.

At the same time, the retailer also stepped up with a donation of 1,000 bananas which were handed out to runners supporting the hospice at the annual Derby Santa Run at Markeaton Park earlier this month.

Local Central England Co-op stores in Ashbourne Road, Derby, Prince Charles Avenue, Mackworth and Burton Road, Littleover helped to make the massive donation happen.

Store Manager Paul Robinson said: “It was our pleasure to help make this donation happen for such a fantastic cause and to support such a great event well-known in our local community.

“In these uncertain times my colleagues and I were more than delighted to have the opportunity to give our support again to the hospice and the families it supports.”

The double donations are the latest link-up between Central England Co-op and Rainbows, which has also been backed by the retailer’s Christmas Toy Appeal over the last three years.

Hayley Purser, Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser at Rainbows Hospice, said: “We are so grateful to Central England Co-op for making Christmas donations to Rainbows once again this year.

“Boxes of mince pies will be enjoyed by our families across the county in their Christmas treat bags and our hard-working Santa runners received a banana at the end of their run thanks to the generous donation.”

Find out more about how Central England Co-op is supporting its communities this Christmas at www.centralengland.coop/discover/goodwill-to-all