Good news after bad

Throughout November and December 2018 groups supporting serving personnel, veterans and their families entered the vote in a round dedicated to supporting the armed forces in Salisbury.

Bags of Help, which is run in partnership with community charity Groundwork and Greenspace Scotland, sees funding awarded to thousands of local community projects every year. Since launching in 2015, it’s provided more than £67 million to over 21,000 local community projects across Britain.

The front and inside of the Wilton Emporium was vandalised and a van containing a number of items from the shop was stolen.

In a message posted on Facebook the charity said:

"As you can imagine this awful incident has come at a great cost to us, both emotionally and financially.

"We have been forced to make repairs and alternative arrangements to keep our shops running, using funds that we would otherwise have used to support our vulnerable clients."

Through their Homes for Veterans service, Alabaré are able to house 115 homeless and vulnerable ex-service on any given night, making them the largest providers of supported housing for homeless veterans of working age outside of London.

The funds received by Alabaré have been used to purchase gym equipment for the benefit of veterans moving in to the new Veterans Campus in Wilton. Ex-service personnel living at the Campus will be able to access a variety of fitness equipment in order to improve both their physical and mental health.

Laura Knight, Alabaré’s Community Engagement Officer, said:

"Through Tesco’s Bags of Help community grant scheme, we have been able to support our Armed Forces Veterans with some fantastic new gym equipment. This will enable them to improve their confidence and self-esteem as they look to once again get back into independent living."