Aldi is supporting local charities, foodbanks, and community groups across the UK with its new Emergency Winter Fund this Christmas.
The German discounter’s foodbank fund will see it donate £250,000 to help organisations prepare for heightened demand on their services. The fund builds on Aldi’s partnership with community engagement platform Neighbourly, which enables all of Aldi’s 980 UK stores to donate surplus food to charities all year round.
The discount supermarket will also be introducing new signs in stores to help highlight the most in-demand items at foodbanks, as selected by the organisations themselves.
From early December, shoppers looking to donate to foodbanks should look out for the logo on shelves by certain items, which can then be dropped off at food donation points located at Aldi’s checkouts.
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The products that were revealed to be most in-demand include cereal, teabags, rice and pasta, tinned food and toiletries.
Aldi’s latest commitment follows a recent survey of Neighbourly charities, which found that 72% will need more food items to help with increased demand this Christmas.
“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,” corporate responsibility director at Aldi UK, Liz Fox said.
She added: “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.”
Steve Butterworth, CEO of Neighbourly, also commented: “The cost-of-living crisis 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.”
The news comes as Kevin the Carrot returns for Aldi’s Christmas 2022 World Cup advert, making a much-anticipated comeback in a 50-second teaser for the supermarket’s festive ad campaign.
