People in Portsmouth can vote for local school and community projects supporting children’s access to healthy food

A trio of Portsmouth schools and good causes are in the running for much-needed funds to help young people.

The 1st Portsmouth Sea Scouts, The Corner Pre-School and Southsea Infant School have been selected in the latest round of voting in Tesco’s Blue Token scheme, with £500, £1,000 and £1,500 available – and customers can now vote in local stores for the one they want to support.

The programme is open to initiatives in Portsmouth that have a clear food focus for young people, including breakfast clubs, holiday food provision, access to healthy snacks for youth groups, community pantries, cookery and nutrition sessions, and food-growing projects that help children learn where food comes from.

The grants form part of Tesco’s wider Fruit & Veg for Schools ambition, giving schools and community groups funding for healthy food projects as the retailer works to help more than one million schoolchildren get fruit and vegetables through its school and community programmes, ran in partnership with community charity Groundwork.

The 1st Portsmouth Sea Scouts is keen to receive funding so that it can purchase camping equipment to support outdoor experiences for young people.

In addition, The Corner Pre-School is looking to use the money it receives to replace a planting area for young children so that they can grow fruit and vegetables.

Lastly, Southsea Infant School will use the grant it gets to create a dedicated sensory room to help young people with their emotional wellbeing and to teach them self-regulation skills.

Claire de Silva, head of community at Tesco, said: “Every child deserves the chance to enjoy healthy food and build the foundations for a stronger future, so we want to support the brilliant schools and community groups in Portsmouth helping children and young people access nutritious food.

“Whether that’s a breakfast club, a pantry, cookery sessions or a project that helps children grow and try new foods, we’d encourage local organisations to apply for the grants – and we’d love shoppers to get involved when the customer vote comes to their local store.”

Customers can vote for the good cause they want to support by dropping the Tesco token they receive at the checkout into the relevant voting box as they leave the store. Each funding round features three local projects, with grants awarded based on the number of tokens received.

Schools and community groups in Portsmouth can apply for funding in future rounds via Tesco, as the retailer looks to support more local projects helping children and young people access healthy, nutritious food. In recent years, thousands of pounds have been donated to Portsmouth good causes.

For more information about the Tesco Free Fruit & Veg for Schools programme and to find out how to apply for a grant, visit https://www.tescoplc.com/fruit-and-veg-grants