Coles paints the Territory purple raising a record $60,000 for Indigenous health
26 August 2021
Thousands of Territorians have painted the town purple, with Coles and its customers raising $60,000 in just two weeks to support Indigenous health provider Purple House.
The money raised will help deliver essential social support, health care and culturally safe dialysis services to remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.
For every Coles customer who donned the colour purple during their Coles shop or while filling the fuel tank at Coles Express, Coles donated $1 to the cause.
Customers also generously purchased $2 donation cards, bought in-store raffle tickets, supported bake sales and barbecues, and rounded up the cost of their groceries with additional donations.
Purple House CEO Sarah Brown said she was grateful for the support shown by Coles and Coles Express team members and customers during a time when those living in rural and remote communities needed it most.
“Purple House is delighted at the success of Coles’ fundraising appeal for Purple House this year. We were blown away by such a generous outcome, and customers can be proud knowing these funds will help get dialysis patients home to their remote communities,” she said.
“It means so much to our patients that Coles team members and customers across the NT want to support us. To have Coles Express on board this year, as well as supermarkets, has really kicked this initiative up another notch, all driven by the extraordinary leadership and energy of Coles’ NT management team.
“It’s a perfect example of how a collaboration between commercial and non-profit organisations can make good business sense and do great things in the community.”
Coles NT Regional Manager Daniel Clegg said locals should be proud of their tremendous efforts in raising funds for such an important cause.
“This year, we were able to beat our fundraising target by an incredible $10,000 and in just under 12 months we have raised a total of $100,000 for Purple House — an amazing achievement for the whole community,” he said.
“A lot of this fundraising was done during a lockdown, and it was fantastic to see the community push on and hit their fundraising target, even with restrictions in place.”
In addition to the fundraising appeal in July, Purple House received a Coles Nurture Fund grant of $114,450 earlier this year. The grant has allowed them to fit out a new commercial kitchen where training and employment opportunities will be offered to dialysis patients, their families and Indigenous people from remote communities.
Coles is recognised as one of the largest private sector employer of Indigenous Australians and has engaged with more than 50 Indigenous businesses in the last financial year, as part of Coles’ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander plan.
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For further information, please contact Coles Media Line (03) 9829 5250 or
media.relations@coles.com.au
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https://www.colesgroup.com.au/FormBuilder/_Resource/_module/ir5sKeTxxEOndzdh00hWJw/file/Coles-Aboriginal-and-Torres-StraitIslander-Engagement-document.pdf
