“It’s such a special scheme because it’s local people who decide how the money will be spent in their community.”

Exmouth Journal: Work being done in Budleigh Salterton Health Hub's garden. Picture: BSHHWork being done in Budleigh Salterton Health Hub's garden. Picture: BSHH (Image: Archant)

Launchpad, a day service for adults with learning disabilities, is bidding to bag a massive cash boost from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative.

Tesco teamed up with Groundwork to launch its community funding scheme, which sees grants of £4,000, £2,000 and £1,000 raised from carrier bag sales in Tesco stores awarded to local community projects.

Three groups in every Tesco region have been shortlisted to receive the cash award and shoppers are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they think should take away the top grant.

Launchpad, one of the groups on the shortlist, is based at the Budleigh Salterton Health Hub in Boucher Rd and offers training opportunities for adults with learning disabilities in both catering and horticulture.

The organisation has applied to Bags of Help to build accessible raised vegetable and flower beds.

“We are aiming to make the grounds and the gardens of the Hub as accessible as possible to all sectors of the community,” said Launchpad director Carole Brown.

“We would like all the Hub users, children and the elderly, wheelchair users and people with disabilities, to have the opportunity to take part in activities in the gardens.”

Voting is open in all Tesco stores in Exmouth, the superstore in Salterton Road and the two Tesco Express stores in Churchill Road and Rolle Street, in January and February and customers will cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop.

Tesco’s Bags of Help project has already delivered over £63 million to more than 20,000 projects across Britain.

Tesco customers get the chance to vote for three different groups every time they shop.

Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions will be awarded funding.

Alec Brown, head of community at Tesco, said: “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success and we’ve been overwhelmed by the response from customers.

“It’s such a special scheme because it’s local people who decide how the money will be spent in their community.

“There are some fantastic projects on the shortlists and we can’t wait to see these come to life in hundreds of communities.”

To find out more about Launchpad, please visit the website at www.launchpadsw.org.