Supermarket chain Aldi is donating £250,000 to London’s local charities, foodbanks and community groups this Christmas through its Emergency Winter Foodbank Fund.
Aldi’s way: a £250,000 fund, surplus food donated and working with customers to help foodbanks
It is also working with partners to donate surplus food to charities, and encouraging customers to make their own donations of the most-needed items.
The Emergency Winter Foodbank Fund builds on Aldi’s partnership with Neighbourly, which enables all of the supermarket’s 980 stores in Britain to donate surplus food – stock which might otherwise have gone to waste – seven days a week, all year round.
Aldi has also introduced signage in stores this Christmas to help highlight to customers the most in-demand items at foodbanks, as selected by the organisations themselves.
Shoppers should look out for the logo on shelves by certain items, such as baked beans, teabags and toiletries, which can then be dropped at the food donation points located by Aldi’s checkouts.
“We know that Christmas is already a particularly challenging time for many, but this year is understandably going to be even tougher for a lot of households,” said Aldi’s Liz Fox.
“That’s why we’re more committed than ever to doing what we can to give back. We want to make food accessible for all and hope both our additional funding and donation drive will help to make a real difference in Greater London.”
Steve Butterworth, the chief exec of Neighbourly, said: “The cost-of-living is impacting communities up and down the country and the charities we support are expecting to see demand increase even further over the coming months.
“Without the support of the public and businesses like Aldi we’d be unable to help those in need. Within our network there are many charities and community groups that will be able to put this funding to good use, to support families that are struggling.”
Tea for two: signs on shelves advise which products are most needed
Aldi’s latest commitment follows a recent survey of Neighbourly charities which revealed that 72per cent will need more food items to help with increased demand this Christmas.
The items that were revealed to be most in-demand, and will be promoted in-store to help drive donations this Christmas, included cereal, rice and pasta, tinned food and toiletries.
Aldi is further supporting Neighbourly through its Christmas advert this year, by encouraging viewers who are able to help families in need to donate at aldi.co.uk/neighbourly.
The supermarket has already donated more than 27million meals to good causes since its partnership with Neighbourly began in 2019.
Charities and community groups interested in working with Aldi should contact Neighbourly at aldi@neighbourly.com.
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Good for Aldi! Capitalism has a human face!