A NUMBER of charities across the county benefitted from a £45,000 funding boost following a six-month supermarket community scheme.

Last week 27 Dorset causes each received a share of the money as a result of Co-op's membership scheme launched last September.

Good causes benefitting from the payout include Dorset Search and Rescue, Portland Gig Rowing Club and The Lantern Trust among many others.

Weymouth's Lantern Trust, a project which offers vulnerable people advice on housing benefits, advocacy and debt management, received £1,600 from the scheme.

Project manager Mike Graham said: "The Lantern has had a record year in terms of numbers of people approaching the service. These types of donations are essential to our funding our core running costs. Applying for funding can often be extremely hard in this climate as for many of the big trusts the focus is on new projects. This is huge for us."

The money is raised through a card membership scheme which donates one percent from every Co-op brand product bought to the scheme on top of the proceeds from newly introduced carrier bag charge.

This resulted in the £45,000 for 27 causes in Dorset and a total of £9m for 4,000 causes nationally, with each store choosing three local causes to support.

The Fortuneswell and Easton Co-op chose the Andrew Simpson Sailing Academy, the National Coastwatch Institution at Portland Bill, and the Three Elles Trust which each revived a cheque for over £1,500.

Sue Bird, an employee at Fortuneswell Co-op, said: "It shows that good things happen when you work together. We are owned by our members and we want to strength our community. Customers can pay £1 for a card at any of our stores and start earning straight away.

"Everytime our members use their Co-op card they are helping the community. Our next few community charities will be chosen with the next week."

The one percent is taken from household products including milk, chicken, bread, sandwiches, potatoes, bacon, grapes, bananas and yoghurt.

Chief membership officer at the Co-op, Rufus Olins, said: "The Co-op has always been community focussed. The original Rochdale Pioneers were motivated by the need to improve the living conditions of those within their local community and they also understood that values were just as important as value.

"By listening to our members we are able to identify what communities care most about and then offer support that really makes a difference, and by working with and supporting local good causes great things are happening."