Five charities will receive £5000 each from the Local Heroes scheme

OneFamily, situated in West Street, Brighton, is a mutual society and has no shareholders, instead being owned by its two million members Local Heroes has been introduced to offer staff the chance to give back to local charities that have impacted them and their families.

OneFamily employees were invited to nominate a charity that was looking for funds for a specific project.

After a two-week voting period, the nominations that received the highest number of employee votes were awarded £5,000 each.

The five charities are Martlets Hospice, Sussex Homeless Support, Raystede Centre for Animals, Whoopsadaisy and Brighton and Hove Samaritans.

Raystede will use the funds to benefit people fleeing domestic violence by providing temporary accommodation for their pets.

Whoopsadaisy wants to improve its toilet facilities at one of its centres so older children can still benefit from its services.

Sussex Homeless Support willimprove its converted double decker bus which offers beds for rough sleepers and Martlets will replace in-patient chairs which have been in constant use for more than 10 years.

The Samaritans will refurbish its waiting area and interview rooms.

The OneFamily Foundation was set up in 2015 to give OneFamily customers access to personal or community-based grants. Staff can nominate again in September.