260k meals thanks to a Lidl helping hand
Lidl, which has stores across the West Midlands, is donating 260,000 meals over the May half term and has unveiled its first community impact report.
During the Easter school holidays, the discounter donated more than 485,000 meals to local causes and charities.
The report highlights the breadth of Lidl’s commitment to supporting those in communities who need it most.
In 2023, Lidl’s support generated the value of £13.5 million for good causes including Neighbourly, the NSPCC and local organisations.
It included more than 10 million meals and more than 100,000 toys donated by Lidl to local charities and community groups
Across 2023, the majority of Lidl’s support – over 90 per cent – went to organisations that support children, young people, and young families.
Acting on its current NSPCC partnership, which is focused on giving every child a place to talk about their mental health, during 2023 the supermarket raised more than £1.77 million for the running of counselling service Childline. It is on track to raise a total of over £10m by 2025.
The report also highlights how it is working closely with local community groups to fight food insecurity. Last year, its fresh and frozen food donations provided more than 10 million meals to over 2,000 food banks, which in turn supported thousands of people across Great Britain. Additionally, Lidl provided more than 100,000 toys to charities through its Christmas Toy Bank.
Mark Newbold, senior community social responsibility manager at Lidl GB, said: “With over 960 stores across the length and breadth of Great Britain, Lidl is at the very heart of thousands of communities. We’ve worked with our charity partners to conduct in depth research to ensure that the support we give reaches the people in those communities who need it the most.
“We’re proud to outline our successes to date in our first ever community impact report, but our dedication doesn’t stop here. Our purpose is to make good food accessible to everyone and we take that very seriously as times continue to be uncertain and many families struggle to keep themselves afloat. We’ll continue to do everything we can to support the increase in demand for local charities and services. Thank you to all the colleagues and customers who have supported us in this journey so far.”
Most of Lidl’s food is distributed by local organisations in Lidl’s ‘Feed it Back’ network coordinated by Neighbourly. Since 2022, more than 1000 charities in this network have also received £1.2m worth of Lidl grants to help give those in need in their communities – over 420,000 people, 37% of which are children - immediate or long-term access to good food.
