Kerry has been commended for charity work
A TEAM member at a Loughborough Tesco store has been recognised for her dedication towards fundraising, receiving the Race for Life Ambassador category at the Tesco Race for Life Hero Awards
Kerry Coles was nominated by her colleagues after taking part in the annual Race for Life event for the past 18 years, raising thousands for charity. She was determined to raise funds for Cancer Research UK after her own mum died from breast cancer aged 45 in 1995.
Kerry has been the Loughborough store’s Race for Life lead for 17 years and has completed in 22 Race for Life events. Kerry can always be seen rallying the store to get involved through social media, creative wall promotions and personal invitations and in her spare time has raised an impressive £18,000 in the last 18 years through fundraising, raffles, car boot stalls and coffee mornings.
Kerry has become a familiar and popular face as part of Tesco’s Race for Life campaign, having appeared on Mother’s Day cards and in participation booklets and TV adverts, as well as Tesco product packaging.
Kerry’s award comes as Tesco and Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life are celebrating 20 years in partnership. Since 2002, over £60million has been contributed from Tesco to Cancer Research UK.
Throughout the years of the partnership, colleagues across the UK have held fundraising events in store, taken part in race events and encouraged customers to donate to support life-saving research. Tesco suppliers have also played their part, giving donations to the charity through various products in-store. The money contributed through those activities helps support Cancer Research UK’s vital work to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.
As part of the celebrations, Tesco has recognised the hard work of colleagues by introducing the Tesco Race for Life Hero awards. Nominated by fellow colleagues, nine Tesco colleagues, plus one store, who have gone the extra mile in the past 20 years to make the partnership such a great success have received awards.
Tesco has contributed over £60m to Cancer Research UK over the last 20 years. Alongside sponsorship of Race for Life, the £60m has come through the Health Charity partnership, Tesco choosing Cancer Research UK as its Charity of the Year in 2012, stock generation for the charity’s shops and payroll giving, as well as partnerships with suppliers.
Jason Tarry, UK/ROI CEO at Tesco said: “Celebrating 20 years of partnership with Cancer Research UK and Race for Life is a momentous occasion for everyone at Tesco. More than 400,000 colleagues and customers have taken part in Race for Life events and we hope it can continue for many more years to come.
“Hearing Kerry’s story is remarkable and she is an inspiration to all of our colleagues at Tesco. She has always encouraged her team to get involved and take part. We’re happy to reward this level of passion for positivity and commitment for fundraising.
“We’re so proud of the work that colleagues, customers and suppliers have done throughout the partnership to make it a success. Without their continued dedication and support we wouldn’t have achieved the £60million milestone. Together, we will make a difference in the fight against cancer.”
Michelle Mitchell, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: “We’re thrilled to be celebrating this partnership milestone with Tesco. The success of our partnership over the last 20 years has been thanks to the support Tesco colleagues, customers and suppliers have given Race for Life, and we want to say a huge thank you to them for their unwavering dedication and commitment. All the money raised will help fund vital research to save more lives, and we hope everyone feels incredibly proud of this achievement.
“We’ve never been more focused on achieving our ambition to see 3 in 4 people survive their cancer by 2034. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters and partners like Tesco, we can continue funding world-class research to keep making transformative steps in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. 1 in 2 of us will get cancer, all of us can support the research that will beat it.”
Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life, which has been in partnership with Tesco for 20 years, is an inspiring series of 3K, 5K, 10K, Pretty Muddy and Pretty Muddy Kids events. In 2020, the events were cancelled due to the pandemic and Race for Life at Home was introduced.
In September and October, the charity’s much-loved massparticipation events returned, with socially distanced measures to keep everyone safe.
One in two people will get cancer in their lifetime. Cancer Research UK has been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival in the UK double in the last 40 years. Today, 2 in 4 people survive their cancer for at least 10 years. Cancer Research UK’s ambition is to accelerate progress so that by 2034, 3 in 4 people will survive their cancer for at least 10 years. Thanks to the generosity of its supporters and partners like Tesco, the charity can continue funding life-saving research.