Cash For Your Community: The race is on for a slice of £20,000 jackpot

A total of 50 groups will benefit from the fund, but the amount each group gets will depend on how many tokens from the Shropshire Star they can collect – and that is where you, the readers, come in.

Tokens are printed in the newspaper each day, and if you want to lend your support to any of the groups, simply collect as many tokens as possible and post them to the address provided in the lists of all 50 groups at www.shropshirestar.com/cfyc

The organisations have already been working hard to collect their tokens, with many of them rallying the communities they serve to help out.

Shropshire Parent and Carer Council (Pacc) hopes to use its slice of the fund to provide more activities for parents who care for sons and daughters with disabilities or other special needs.

Co-ordinator Sarah Thomas said: "We have put out requests on social media and our website asking people to collect the tokens for us."

The Furniture Scheme in Ludlow runs the Rockspring Community Centre in the town, and hopes to use the money for fitness equipment.

Development worker Christine Perkins said there had already been a positive response from the groups which used the centre. "It's coming along, we have got a collecting box and we ask people to put their tokens in that," she said.

"The groups which use the centre, the tai chi group and the flower arranging group, are helping collect the tokens, and we're asking anyone who comes into the centre to bring their tokens in. We have also asked all our Facebook friends to help us."

Janet Groves runs Mark's Pit Stop, a voluntary group which provides friendship, clothing and food for people in the Telford area who are lonely or in need.

She said her network of volunteers would each be collecting tokens in their own community.

"I will be collecting them in Wellington where I live, and some of my helpers will be collecting them in their villages."

Sally Johnson formed the Harry Johnson Trust in memory of her seven-year-old son who died after a nine-month battle with Double Hit Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

The charity provides support to children who receive cancer treatment at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital.

Sally said: "I have got some collection boxes we have put out in various locations in different areas, we have got some in the different clubs and shops. The response has been very positive."

Lingen Davies Cancer Fund also provides help for cancer patients, funding equipment and buildings at hospitals across Shropshire and Mid Wales.

It is trying to raise £750,000 for a new radiotherapy machine. Fundraising officer Liz Kyle says the charity has put collection boxes around the cancer wards, put an appeal out on Facebook and is asking supporters to cut out the tokens.

Lineal-cum-Colemere Women's Institute is trying to raise money to pay for a defibrillator in Ellesmere.

President Margaret Forrester is encouraging the whole village to get behind the bid, and has already won the support of the local petrol station.

"We have put a bucket in the local garage, and they have put up a sign asking for anybody who buys the Shropshire Star to cut out their tokens," she said.

Sam Jones, of the Exotic Zoo Community Interest Company, says the non-profit-making organisation will be encouraging some of the schools it regularly visits to get behind its bid.

"We will also be putting out an appeal on social media," she said.

Hope House Children's Hospices, which provides support to terminally-ill children and their families, will be having collection points at all its charity shops.

"We have put out appeals on Facebook and Twitter, and we have sent an email out to all our supporters," says fundraiser Lynsey Kilvert.

Hilbrae Rescue Kennels, which has been rescuing and rehousing stray dogs for 25 years, has collection points at Morrisons in Wellington and Tesco at Wrekin Retail Park in Telford.

Founder Marty Burrell said: "We're encouraging all our supporters help us."