Lincolnshire Co-op has raised £49,860 for 80 local charities and groups through its Community Champions scheme.

Launched in March, the scheme issues a donation towards a local good cause whenever a Lincolnshire Co-op customer uses their dividend card in a store. The charities and groups change every three months and are put forward by Lincolnshire Co-op member groups, which are made up of dividend card holders.

The group’s membership and community manager Sam Turner said: “We’re delighted with how much money our members have raised for good causes in their area. It’s great to see people becoming more aware of who we are sharing our profits with and how the money is helping in their local communities.”

Donations included £1,537.61 for Metheringham Area Community Leisure Association which will go into a skate park project fund, £352.14 for the Boston Social Club for the Blind and £1,219.88 for Weirfield Wildlife Hospital.

Hospital supervisor Matthew Willows said the Community Champions donation will be a big help.

“It means we can buy new incubators for baby birds, baby hedgehogs and baby rabbits,” he said. “We also get through a lot of animal food so it will go towards this too and there is maintenance work to be done as well. We have 25 aviaries, a hedgehog shed and a pond for the ducks so we’ll be able to do that work now which is brilliant.”