A charity supporting unpaid carers is among three good causes which need your vote in order to secure a share of £3,000 in funding.

The EDP We Care Appeal: Norfolk Millennium Trust for Carers is among the charities picked to benefit from John Lewis's Norwich Community Matters scheme.

The Matthew Project and Cruse Bereavement Care have also been selected for the latest round of the Norwich store's charity scheme, which asks shoppers in the store's Place to Eat Restaurant to vote for the good cause they would most like to see John Lewis donate funds to.

The voting for this latest £3,000 funding pot begins on Monday, and at the end of three months of voting John Lewis will split the money according to the proportion of the customer votes each charity receives.

The EDP We Care Appeal aims to relieve the elderly, infirm, sick or disabled in Norfolk by giving financial or practical support to their unpaid carers. It offers small grants of up to £350, and each year helps about 200 unpaid carers whose ages range from as young as eight to those who are in their 80s.

Paddy Seligman, from the appeal, said: 'The help we give to unpaid carers is invaluable to them. We use the income from our endowment fund to give grants. At the moment we are only able to help individual carers once every three years, but we would like to build up our capital fund to release more income, enabling us to help carers on a more regular basis.

'The range of help we give is often for a practical piece of equipment, like a washing machine, and we also like to support much-need short breaks and leisure activities for the carers. We have also been helping to pay for laptop computers which can help carers keep in touch with people, research the condition of the people they are caring for, or do shopping online.'

The Matthew Project is based in Norfolk and Suffolk and works with people affected by drugs and alcohol, while Cruse Bereavement Care offers support to people suffering from the loss of a loved one.

Alison Rowland, charities liaison coordinator at John Lewis Norwich, said: 'To date we have donated money to 21 different charities since the scheme began back in May 2012. It is exciting for us to see how the vote has been split and for us to now make the donations to these very worthwhile community groups.'

Voting for the latest three charities begins on Monday in John Lewis Norwich's Place to Eat restaurant.

Organisations who would like to be considered for Community Matters can pick up a nomination form from the Community Matters collection box located in the Place to Eat restaurant.

Visit www.wecareappeal.co.uk, www.matthewproject.co.uk, and www.cruse.org.uk