Shoppers urged to put pound coins to good use to raise funds for worthy causes

Community retailer the Heart of England Co-operative Society is urging consumers to put their old pound coins to good use before they are phased out of circulation.

The Society, whose unique Helping Hearts Awards Scheme has helped thousands of people for the past 17 years, donating a percentage of the retailer’s profits to charities and worthy causes, is urging people to donate their last remaining pound coins to charity boxes that sit within shops and offices all over the city.

It comes as Royal Mint revealed earlier this week there were still some 500 million old coins in circulation.

Ali Kurji, Chief Executive of the Heart of England Co-operative Society, said: “We would urge every person to root through their piggy banks, pockets, old handbags, purses or wallets, drawers, jars of change, gym bags, travel bags, petty cash tins, desk tidies – anywhere they can think of, even down the backs of their sofas – to find their old coins.

“For most of us we’ll probably find a few coins that we’ve barely remembered even existed. Imagine the good we could do between us if we donate to our favourite charity. When we donate to charity, every penny helps – imagine what we could achieve if we donated even just a fraction of this ‘forgotten money’.

“We would certainly welcome extra coins dropping into our charity boxes in our stores and funeral homes, in aid of our nominated charity, Guide Dogs.”

The Society is one of thousands of retailers in the UK which has announced its plans to go beyond the Royal Mint’s deadline of this Sunday, to continue accepting the old pound coins for up to another two weeks.

Peter Fletcher, General Manager of the Society’s Food Division, which operates a network of food stores across the trading area of Coventry, Warwickshire, south Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, said: “We know even from our own customers that not everyone yet has had the chance to have a proper look for any old coins that may be lying around.

“As a gesture of good will we will continue to accept customers’ odd coins for a couple of weeks after this Sunday’s deadline.”

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