Celebrating Communities – Asda’s 60th Birthday 

In celebration of Asda’s 60th birthday we held a special grant where Asda Community and Customer Champions were able to nominate groups who they work closely with, in recognition of the amazing work community heroes deliver in their local communities. 

Asda Foundation offered grants of £1000, to support groups who are going above and beyond in their local communities. One group who received Celebrating Communities funding was Grow Rhondda CIC, who were nominated via Asda Tonypandy. 

Grow Rhondda has been playing its part in social prescription since its set up in 2018, with an emphasis on growing and gardening as a therapeutic alternative to medical intervention. Building on this positive platform year on year, now offering a volunteer lead programme that links to sustainable practises that connects with its communities needs and offers environmental awareness. They have created the postcode kerb side gardens, where they place planters and hanging baskets in the community, a project run by volunteers for the community benefit.  

Asda Foundations’ funding will be used to host a community festival in the local park, providing the opportunity to bring the community together, to celebrate heritage and culture. They will have music, storytelling, children’s entertainment, food and craft stalls. They have hosted this event for the last 2 years, with over 400 people attending each year. 

It’s a pleasure to be celebrating Asda 60th with a £1000 cheque presentation to Grow Rhondda, who support their community all over the Rhondda in the South Wales valleys. They are a wonderful and welcoming hub with cooking on a budget, and one volunteer who went along on the first day is Rodger Watts. He is hands on, takes part in all of the gardening projects, the repair of the café, fixing anything from a lawnmower to a sewing machine. His knowledge and his enthusiasm to help this community makes him a Diamond in the community. David the man in charge was over the moon to have realised I had nominated them for the award and thanked me for the on-going support from Asda and The Asda Foundation over the years.

Karen Thomas, Asda Tonypandy’s Community and Customer Champion 

We want to say a massive thank you to Asda for being our sole funder, without Asda everything we do would not be possible. The Asda Community and Customer Champions we work with understand the needs of people living and working locally and act as our connection to the vital community projects we fund.  The grassroots groups and projects we support make a huge difference to local communities and the people involved, it’s wonderful to be a part of empowering these groups to expand and continue their essential services. Thank you Asda and happy birthday!