Head to RiversMeet sports and leisure centre on a Tuesday and you are likely to see a smiling woman wearing an ASDA uniform behind the desk in reception.
This is Emma Sleeth, ASDA’s Community Champion, whose job it is to go out into the community and help – and one of the ways she does so is by supporting the staff at the leisure centre.
Emma, who is there every Tuesday, started at RiversMeet about six months ago, at first to help the Swim School get on top of its admin with the change in the data protection law (GDPR). ‘But she has done so much more,’ says Jennie Moore, head of the Swim School. ‘She has since been trained up to be on reception, she has helped us fund-raise, first for the pool hoover, raising £700, but now for other charities as we have now started raising money for other community groups.’
For Emma, who lives locally, being able to help RiversMeet is very satisfying. ‘My children swim and go to the gym here, I feel sometimes that I should move in!’ she laughs. ‘But it’s great to be able to help and I enjoy coming here.’
RiversMeet, though, is just one of the places Emma helps out. ‘I also go to St Martin’s Grange care home and do activities with the residents, I give talks in schools, I ran the summer carboot sales for the Gillingham Carnival Committee  – I’m available for anyone who wants help,’ she says.
Almost every ASDA store around the country has a Community Champion. ‘I’ve done the job for about eight years and it has evolved over that time,’ says Emma. ‘One other important part of what I do is getting involved with the grants that the local community can apply to ASDA for – these are for grants of £1000 upwards and are given by the ASDA Foundation.  Everything I do is about ASDA helping the local community.’
For more information on the grants see here.