On 16th February 2021 Helipads for Hospitals delivered a Big Red Bin to the ‘top coop’ in Enderby.
The money for the bin was raised by three local Co-op stores joining together and applying for Co-op’s Community Donation Policy – it has been a joint collaboration between the Co-op Member Pioneer in Enderby, the Enderby Store Manager and Helipads for Hospitals.
Lia Lilly, Member Pioneer Co-ordinator for Leicestershire & Rutland said of the delivery “during Covid it has been more important than ever to look after your own and others’ mental health and well-being.
“The hope is that by having this bin installed those people that enjoy litter wombling for the social interaction, sense of community, banter and general health benefits will now have a local repository for all the aluminium cans they collect in addition to the bin being available for locals who want to support the fabulous charity that is Helipads for Hospitals.
“I’m really proud to have been the key driver of getting this bin in place but more importantly I am pleased that the whole community have been so encouraging once the news was released on social media”.
Dan Greenhalgh, Enderby Store Manager says of the Big Red Bin delivery; “We’re so glad this project has finally come to fruition as it’s a great way to support the local community – the Enderby litter wombles but also anyone who wants to reduce aluminium waste, as all the cans will be recycled for a fantastic cause.”
All the cans collected from this site and others will be smelted down to create a Helipad for Leicester Royal Infirmary. When each bin is full it contains approximately 4,000 cans. 5 millions cans are needed for one Helipad. In Leicestershire, over 500,000 have already been collected. There is still a way to go but this new Big Red Bin will certainly go a long way to helping the Helipads for Hospitals charity realise their ambitions and Co-op are proud to support them.
On delivery day, John Nowell from Helipads for Hospitals had this to say “I’m very excited to finally be delivering this bin to Enderby and hope to be collecting from here on a regular basis. I would like to thank Co-op for their help & support to raise the funds for the bin. Hopefully we can have more of these across Leicestershire.”
Enderby’s resident Wombles (Keith Johnson, Sue Wareham and Dave Marvin) were there for the handover of the bin and kindly brought along some cans they had wombled to crush them on-site and christen the bin. Keith said “It’s brilliant that we have this bin so close so we can deposit our ‘treasure’ straight after the womble and it’s great to know that we’re helping to raise money for much needed Helipads at the same time”.