You may not realise that your local Specsavers store is locally owned and run, and open seven days a week. And the people behind the Specsavers Queen Street and Specsavers Leckwith stores are very passionate about supporting the local community.

Earlier this year, all four Cardiff stores- located on Queen Street, Albany Road, Leckwith and Llanishen- donated £1 to Cardiff Foodbank for every customer that completed a customer feedback survery, raising £1,149.

The Albany Road and Leckwith teams also had collection points for items in-store, including tinned food, toiletries and household goods. In total, they collected more than 31kg of goods for the foodbank.

The Specsavers Queen Street store also supported this year’s Pride celebrations by having a dress-up day in store, doing face painting and hosting a bake sale, raising £60.

Staff are also encouraged to take a paid “volunteer day”, some of which have been used to help with dog walking at Cardiff’s Dog Trust.

Most recently, team members from across all four Cardiff Specsavers stores took park in an eight-hour, 15-mile trek in aid of Alzheimer’s Society and raised £1,182.

James Deavall, Specsavers Cardiff director, says: “We’re passionate to raise funds for, and awareness of, important causes like these, especially as we know it means so much to our community. We hope the money we’ve raised will make a difference for those who need it.”

The team has also chosen to support Boomerang– a Cardiff-based charity that aims to tackle poverty, social isolation and homelessness by collecting other items to distribute to those in need.

Specsavers in Cardiff and Penarth will act as a collection point for the charity in the run up to Christmas, encouraging local residents to donate items that can be packaged up and sent out during the festive period. In the past, the charity has supported hundreds of families, including those living in hostels, experiencing homelessness, as well as refugees.

Paul Gwilym, founder of Boomerang adds: “We are delighted that Specsavers has chosen our Give a Gift Appeal to support through the festive period. Our vision has always been clear, we wish to see smiles on children’s faces by giving them a gift on Christmas day with the generous help of the public.”

If you are a local charity or community group that would like to be supported by Specsavers Cardiff, or would like to find out more information, please email jodie.morgan@specsavers.com