SHOPPERS are being urged to dig deep and raise thousands more for charity at Kidlington’s Sainsbury’s.

Staff at the Oxford Road branch have chosen Bicester’s Child Brain Injury Trust as the charity it will support in the next 12 months.

Its last chosen charity was the village’s Kaleidoscope Children’s Centre, which raised £5,275 through shopper donations.

The trust, which provides emotional and practical support to children and families, was among those put forward by shoppers.

It was chosen by staff from a shortlist of medical emergency transport charity SERV OBN and Thames Valley & Chiltern Air Ambulance.

A staff skydive is among the ideas being considered to raise more than £10,000 for the trust in the coming year.

Store charity ambassador Sue Coyle said: “The customers are very, very generous, they are fantastic.

“When we empty the tins on a Sunday, the generosity is very impressive.”

She added: “It is such a good cause. We could have chosen all three, especially when it comes to children.

“The support they give to the children as well as the families just melts us all a bit. I would like to double what we did last year.”

Earlier this month charity and store staff began the collection at the store.

Regional fundraising officer Andrew Tee said: “We’re really thankful to Sainsbury's Kidlington for making us their charity of the year.

“As a small charity we make a big difference to families whose lives have been devastated by childhood-acquired brain injury, through no fault of their own.”

The trust supports young people up to 24 and their families with an acquired brain injury and runs training days for health professionals and families.

He said: “It can be very hard for people to understand an acquired brain injury, as the child may look the same as they did before they acquired their brain injury, but their behaviour may well be different.

“All the work we do is only possible through the generosity of supporters, and we are reliant on people and organisations like Sainsbury’s in Kidlington doing fundraising events and making donations.”

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