Tesco charity champion helps raise £30,000

Numerous community groups, including Pendleside Hospice, local branches of the Red Cross and Neave’s Fund were supported, as raffles, carol singing and weekly bag-packing services saw more than £10,000 raised in-store alone, with Billie-Jean Horne spearheading the charitable events.

Billie-Jean, who played a ‘critical role’ in the raising of a grand total of £30,421 according to her store manager, co-ordinated a Star Wars-themed event for Neave’s Fund, a charity that supports Neave Evans, a local girl with a severe form of cerebral palsy, by funding the purchase of new equipment for the five-year-old.

“We have a great team spirit here at the Burnley store and the team love fundraising,” said Thomas Mollekin, store manager at Burnley Tesco. “Billie Jean is our nominated ‘Community Champion’, which means she plays a critical role in getting charity events organised and the teams geared up to the raise money for local charities.

“She also recruits and liaises with charities to ensure they get the much needed funds collected by the Tesco team.

“I’d like to say a huge thank you to Billie-Jean and the rest of the Burnley Tesco team for their hard work and dedication to fund-raising throughout 2015.”