Jacinta's a champion of community spirit

A remarkable €21,000 raised in Kinnegad over the last six months has gone directly into community and charitable causes in the area.The woman behind this marathon fundraising is Heathfield resident, Jacinta Nurney, who is Tesco's Community Champion in Kinnegad. "I'm nearly a year working at Tesco in Kinnegad," Jacinta told the Westmeath Examiner. "I started on the customer service desk, but shortly before Christmas, I was approached to become Community Champion."I took on the role in mid-January, but the work really started in February."Tesco has nearly 300 Community Champions at it stores across the world, and Jacinta is one of 21 in Ireland.A champion's job is to identify needs, develop community initiatives and support groups and organisations in the catchment area around a Tesco store.In doing so, Jacinta spends a significant part of her working week making contact with schools, sporting and community groups, and putting together initiatives aimed not only at raising funds for different projects, but also generating community spirit."It's something I'm really passionate about," Jacinta explained, "and I'm constantly amazed at the generosity of people in Kinnegad and nearby areas."When people know that an initiative is local, and that it will benefit their family and projects in their own area, they are even more enthusiastic in supporting it."Dozens of projects in the Kinnegad catchment area have benefited from fundraising projects spearheaded by Jacinta over the last six months, and last week, the total amount raised broke the €20,000 mark, when a fun day generated €1,200 for the Westmeath Centre for Independent Living in Kinnegad."We had book stalls, face painting, clowns, a mini fashion show, pot luck, and we even had a visit from Mr Tayto," she said.Teenagers from the Kinnegad area manned the stalls, to give them a taste of the community spirit and sense of civic duty that Jacinta hopes to foster. "I get my own children involved too, as it's important that they see the benefits of charity and community work," she remarked.Bag packs, car washes, collections, tea/coffee mornings, book sales, fun days and an Easter hunt have also raised community funds.In addition, alongside its Computers for Schools programme, Tesco has sponsored equipment for GAA clubs, schools and creches."We also work the church, and recently, we donated water to pilgrims making the walk from Kinnegad to Clonard," Jacinta added.She works closely with the fledgling Kinnegad Business Association, and just last week, she joined the Kinnegad delegation that met visiting judges from Co-operation Ireland's Pride of Place competition.There's a huge buzz in being part of a bustling community, Jacinta maintains, and she hopes to use her role to enlighten Kinnegad's large population as to what's available for residents, young and old."There's a huge amount of people in Kinnegad who aren't aware of what's out there, what clubs there are and the activities taking place," she said."We've worked with, for example, the Irish dancing schools, the youth club, karate club, the Tidy Towns group and residents groups, and part of my job is to raise awareness about what they do."Jacinta grew up at Ardnamullen, Kinnegad, and attended St Etchen's NS, before moving to Maynooth. She lived in England for eight years, where she worked with Tesco, before moving back to Kinnegad.With her two children - Ciaran (10) and Aoibheann (8) - attending St Etchen's, Jacinta is delighted to have the opportunity to combine her job with doing something that directly benefits the area in which they live.At the moment, she's working on more projects which will benefit more local causes, as Tesco Kinnegad moves towards its first birthday."It's wonderful that even in a recession, people are still so generous, and that they're willing to go the extra mile to see their own community benefit," she enthused.