AN INITIATIVE aimed at tackling food poverty and hunger in Scotland has continued to receive donations from shoppers.
“Teaming up to Tackle Hunger” a campaign led by Lidl accumulated over 40,000 packets of rice, tins of tuna and cereal for grassroots non-profit organisations in the run up to Christmas.
Lidl have processed the collaborative donations from 105 of its stores in Scotland and now claim they have “pallets of vital food ready to be distributed to 105 partnering charities across the country.”
The initiative is in addition to Lidl’s ongoing partnership with Neighbourly through their ‘Feed it Back’ scheme, with the retailer donating surplus food from stores to local charities daily.
Ross Millar, Lidl’s Regional Director for Scotland, said: “The success of the Teaming up to Tackle Hunger initiative is testament to our shoppers’ generosity and commitment to supporting their local communities.
“This new format for donating in-store has made contributing to charity easier, we are amazed by the contribution and what we can achieve together with our customers.”
Through the “Feed it Back Scheme”, Lidl are said to have donated over 785,000 meals to an extensive network of 330 community partners across Scotland including food banks, community centres, soup kitchens and more.
Steve Butterworth, CEO at Neighbourly said: “Since early 2020, requests for help from local charities and food banks have more than doubled, so it is really important that programmes like this continue to support isolated and vulnerable members of the community with food and basic essentials.
“Through the five weeks of the Tackle Hunger campaign, Lidl stores gave their customers the opportunity to make a huge difference to someone in their community during what has been an extremely tough time of year for many people.”
