LOCAL PROJECTS RECEIVE A CASH BOOST THAT WILL GO TO THE HEART OF THE COMMUNITY

Boost Drinks, a leading functional drinks brand, has announced the first three winners of their ‘Choose Now, Change Live’s’ initiative, with the groups winning a share of a £20k fund. The grant pot was made available to community groups who are looking for funding to help drive change in their area, community, and field.

After receiving over 300 applications, from sports groups and arts programs to food banks and animal shelters, an independent panel managed to narrow it down to a handful of deserving winners before opening the final decision up to public vote.

Making up the top three was Nite Light CIC, KOOL Recycle with Bury Defence Academy taking home the top spot. These are the first three of nine community groups that Boost Drinks will be helping throughout their ‘Choose Now, Change Live’s campaign.

This scheme has been supported and administrated by Groundwork, a specialist charity working both locally and nationally to transform lives in the UK’s most disadvantaged communities.

Bury Defence Academy who took home the top spot, are a martial arts and boxing club that supports the local community to improve their health and fitness. Their primary aim is to divert people away from gang culture and antisocial behaviour through the power of sport and self-control, something which martial arts is perfect for.

With the funds awarded from Boost Drinks they plan on delivering a return to health class to those recovering from Covid-19 and people who have had a decrease in exercise due to lockdown. The remaining funds will help refurbish the club with some much-needed new equipment, along with training up their staff and volunteers with coaching certificates, to allow them to reach and facilitate exercise for even more members of the community.

Another worthy recipient was Kept Out Of Landfill (KOOL Recycle) who aim to redirect good food, that would otherwise go to waste, by making it available to the community on a ‘pay-what-you-can’ basis. With the money awarded by Boost Drinks they aim to purchase refrigeration to allow them to store even more food and offer frozen and chilled goods, allowing them to help them reach more people.

Finally, the final winner is Middlesbrough based ‘Nite Light CIC’. Nite Light offer a cashless ‘Pay It Forward’ service which helps to provide the essentials for people in need. They do this by offering meals, snacks and drinks cards along with hygiene bags for adults and children which can be purchased and donated online. It even allows donors to select what location they would like their purchase to be donated to. With the grant from Boost Drinks, they aim to support a long-term project, to introduce token rewards for those who help within community projects, predominantly focusing on the homeless and unemployed. These earnt tokens can then be exchanged for various rewards such as birth certificates, driving licenses and other useful things that normally come with a cost. All with the aim of helping people back on their feet and into training or employment.

Adrian Hipkiss, Marketing and International Business Director at Boost Drinks, commented: “Community is at the heart of everything we do, and the CSR campaign is a great example of this. The Choose Now Change Lives campaign is supporting local organisations and groups that benefit their community and have a positive impact on people’s lives, something Boost champions by working with local independent retailers. Eligible groups were able to put forward their own applications to receive a share of a £20,000 grant. I’m very excited to see how to lucky winners use the funds.”

Set up in 2001 by Founder and CEO, Simon Gray, the company aimed to fill a gap in the market for quality energy drinks at an affordable price. Boost Drinks has gone from strength to strength since its inception, expanding its range in-line with changing consumer tastes and demand, while investing heavily in the brand and infrastructure in the last few years to give itself the best chance of success. With its first brokerage deal agreed with Rio Drinks, annual turnover is estimated to reach £50m in 2021.

Speaking of the brand’s success over the past 20 years, Simon commented: “I don’t get much chance to reflect but it is safe to say we’ve had an incredible 20 years and I am very proud of what we’ve achieved.

“Our ‘We Love Local’ ethos remains as relevant in 2021 as it’s ever been. We’ve been working with local independent retailers and wholesalers since our brand was born, so to mark our milestone 20th anniversary, it feels only right that we should celebrate it with them and acknowledge those who have supported Boost’s journey through the years.

“I’m immensely proud of and grateful to all our stakeholders and look forward to more shared success – and lots of fun too – throughout the rest of the year.”