SPAR donates £5,000 to Devon resource centre

Appleby Westward, which owns or manages all SPAR stores in the South West, has announced its successful Community Cashback recipients, who have been recognised for their exceptional contributions to their local communities.

One of the recipients is Proper Job, a resource centre in Chagford, Devon, which received a grant of £5,000.

Proper Job is a not-for-profit resource centre, specialising in repurposing broken or unwanted household items and selling them on. The organisation also offers workshops, training and events to encourage and educate the local community about the joys of reclaiming and recycling.

The resource centre is planning to use the grant to improve facilities on site, including adding a public toilet, installing its own water supply and adding extra sinks to clean donations. This will help the charity facilitate more customers and donations, as well as provide staff and volunteers with a comfortable working environment.

Ali Sallis, general manager at Proper Job, said: “Chagford is a rurally-isolated town and suffers from a lack of services. It’s therefore so important that we can continue offering our services to the local community and SPAR’s generous donation has made this all the more possible.”

Last year alone, the team repaired over 45,000 items which would have otherwise ended up in landfill. The charity also donated £2,000 of repurposed resources to local schools, village halls and sports groups.

The not-for-profit received the £5,000 cheque from Appleby Westward’s head of marketing, Nick Vivian, who said: “We felt Proper Job deserved the grant because it’s never been more important to recycle and reuse our belongings and it’s fantastic that we have a service like this in our community.

“The Community Cashback scheme has been a success not only because we have been able to contribute £20,000 to various groups and centres throughout the South West, but has enabled us to become more aware of the fantastic work people are doing for their communities.”

The scheme is part of SPAR’s greater efforts to bring its customers together. For more information on this, and other ‘Nurture Our Neighbourhoods’ initiatives, visit: https://www.spar.co.uk/being-spar/community