SAINSBURY’S Bude has announced its new charity partnership for 2018, with Jay’s AIM.

The latest announcement follows a successful year of Sainsbury’s Bude working with CLIC Sargent.

Over two weeks in June, customers were given the chance to vote in store and online for the store’s new charity partner, with Jay’s AIM receiving the most votes.

Jay’s AIM — Helping Young Hearts — was set up in memory of James (Jay) Alexander Osborne, who grew up and went to school in Bude. Jay died of a sudden cardiac arrest on June 18 last year, aged 28.

Twelve young people die in the UK every week from undiagnosed cardiac conditions. Jay’s AIM works with the young and active across the South West to reduce this number, through ‘Assess’ — Promoting the different types of cardiac screening assessments available to young people and advertising the upcoming screening events available within the South West; ‘Inform’ — Informing young people about cardiac risk and how sudden cardiac death in the young can be prevented, through interactive face-to-face visits to schools, sports clubs and businesses; ‘Make a difference’ — Working with the South West’s schools, sports clubs, and businesses to make a difference, by providing both basic and advanced CPR/Defibrillator training and automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to the venues most in need.

Stephen Gent, store manager at Sainsbury’s Bude said: “We’re really excited to be working with Jay’s AIM, supporting such a fantastic cause. Everyone at Bude is looking forward to working together for a successful partnership.”

Dan Osborne from Jay’s AIM added: “We’re delighted to be named the new local charity partner for Sainsbury’s Bude We’d like to thank everyone who votes for us, becoming the local charity partner will make a huge difference to us.”

The local charity scheme is now entering its tenth year, and a partnership launch weekend took place across Sainsbury’s stores from August 3 to 5.

For more information about Sainsbury’s Local Charity of the Year scheme, visit www.sainsburyslocalcharity.co.uk/