Dunnes Stores' customers all over Ireland raised over €340,000 to support the work of the Irish Heart Foundation over Valentine’s weekend. The retailer ran a four-day campaign to help the charity, whose fundraising efforts have been badly affected by the pandemic. From Thursday, 11 February to Sunday, 14 February, Dunnes Stores customers across Ireland were invited to add an extra €2 to their shopping bills – donations which will go straight to the Irish Heart Foundation. The campaign target was €150,000, but Dunnes Stores and their customers more than doubled it, raising over €340,000. The campaign was supported by TV presenter and fashion designer Brendan Courtney, whose father died four years ago following a stroke.
SuperValu has announced that it has donated one million hand sanitisers to St. Vincent de Paul and those living in direct provision centres with the support of the Irish Refugee Council and Doras. John Lannon, CEO of Doras said, ”With a weekly allowance of €38.80 for adults and €29.90 for children, people in Direct Provision have little means to purchase essential items in normal times, let alone items that are now essential since the pandemic began, such as personal hand sanitiser. "Living in congregated settings such as Direct Provision during COVID-19 means people have little control over their health outcomes – this kind donation of hand sanitiser from SuperValu can help people to do what they can to prevent the spread of COVID."
Ahead of St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow, Circle K conducted research to discover if the phrase ‘the luck of the Irish’ rings true which found:
- 30% of people believe the Irish are the luckiest in the world
- People from Cork feel the luckiest in Ireland (77%), followed by Dublin (67%) and Meath (50%)
- Ireland proven not to be a nation of begrudgers, with 87% of people feeling happy for others’ good fortune
- 46% of respondents believe they are particularly lucky in love, a further 16% feel financial luck is on their side.
- 4 in 5 (81%) believe at least to some degree in good and bad luck superstitions. Walking under a ladder (52%), finding a penny (51%) and breaking a mirror (50%) are the most believed superstitions.
The research was conducted in celebration of the return of Circle K’s free virtual game, Scratch and Win.
The number of people heading out to shops across Britain rose by 7% in the week to 13 March from a week earlier, the seventh rise in eight weeks despite a national lockdown, market researcher Springboard has said. Shopper numbers, or footfall, climbed 5.7% on UK high streets, was up 6.9% at retail parks, and up 9.8% at shopping centres. The higher numbers were possibly the result of parents of school age children having some additional time to shop following a widespread return to schools on 8 March, Springboard said. "The steady increase in visits to high streets and shopping centres delivers further evidence of the degree of pent up demand amongst consumers to return to stores," said Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard.
Rapeseed prices are surging to record highs as traders scour the world for supplies of the oil-rich crop, illustrating growing strain across oilseed markets exerted by booming Chinese demand. The scarcity of rapeseed, the yellow-flowered crop processed to make oil for cooking, biodiesel fuel and protein meal for livestock, has coincided with reduced supplies of soybeans, sunflower and palm oil. As a result, oilseeds are a major factor in the United Nations' global food commodity price index reaching a 6-1/2 year high, prompting some individual governments such as Russia to impose measures aimed at curbing grain exports.
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