Inspired by wanting to help their local community in tribute to a much-loved friend and colleague, Linda Owens, a team from Tesco Carrickfergus recently took on a gruelling Walk To Remember challenge to raise funds for local health charity Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke (NICHS).
Linda, who had been a friendly face to staff and customers in the store for over 26 years, sadly died very suddenly in November due to heart-related issues. Best friend and workmate Terri Binding, along with colleague Jenna Wright, wanted to honour Linda’s memory in a way that she would have wanted; which was to help people suffering from devastating health conditions get back on their feet again.
Terri explains; “Linda was so loving and cared for all of us. She was especially proud of her two daughters and three grandchildren who she loved spending time with. Everyone who knew her loved her, she had a heart of gold and when she left us, she took a piece of my heart with her. I, and indeed all of us at Tesco Carrickfergus, will miss her dearly and will never forget her. I am privileged to have been able to call her my best friend.”
The team set up an ‘Always In My Heart’ tribute page with Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke to collect online donations and share special memories and photos of Linda. They then undertook various fundraising initiatives such as a staff raffle, in-store collection day and an arduous 16-mile walk from Carrickfergus Castle to the Portside Inn Belfast, and back. The team raised a phenomenal £4,721 to help NICHS support people across Northern Ireland recovering from chest, heart and stroke illnesses and enable the charity to invest in research for the benefit of future generations.
NICHS Donor Development Manager Nadia Duncan comments; “I would like to extend our huge heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported the fundraising efforts in Linda’s memory. After hearing so many lovely stories about her, I have no doubt she would be so proud of what the Tesco Carrickfergus team have achieved in her name.”
“This incredible gift will make a big difference to our work, supporting the as many as one in three people living with a chest, heart or stroke condition here. As almost 90% of our income comes from public donations, we sincerely thank everyone at Tesco Carrickfergus, and their customers, for all their efforts and kind donations.”
Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke’s charity partnership with Tesco will continue this autumn on World Stroke Day 2024, which is Tuesday 29th October. Over the Halloween half-term holidays NICHS volunteers will be collecting in 15 Tesco stores across Northern Ireland to raise funds to support the charity’s Post Rehab Exercise Programme (PREP), a physiotherapy led, community-based course which helps rebuild people's lives after stroke. As the supermarket’s tagline says, ‘every little helps’, and when it comes to volunteering that is certainly the case. NICHS is appealing for some additional support to help them hit their target of raising £10,000 in a day for stoke survivors. If you can spare an hour, or two, please get in touch with Nadia Duncan at nduncan@nichs.org.uk or call 028 9032 0184.
To find out more about setting up a tribute page to fundraise in memory for NICHS visit nichs.org.uk/tribute
