Page 9 - BPW-UK - E-news - Edition 116 - October 2023 - Binded

Lidl has a list of commitments on its sustainability page.
Charity Partnerships target local organisations who are working to tackle those
issues which are most important in their local communities.

They commit to donate over 5 million meals annually to good causes, through
the Feed It Back programme and partnership with Neighbourly.com.

Sainsbury’s supermarket is also a partner.

They state, “The scheme ensures that our surplus items, including fresh fruit
and vegetables, and many daily essentials, are making a real difference locally,
whilst at the same time allowing us to build strong community links.”

The amount of information on the website of just these four food retailers is
overwhelming. So what happens locally?

I put on my walking shoes, feeling so privileged to have a branch of each of
these giants within a mile radius and a 15 minute walk of my Netherfield communi-
ty, which is a 20 minute bus ride from Nottingham city centre.

Within the community, there is the Bethesda Food Club which meets on Thurs-
day afternoons over tea and biscuits. The food bank is open and £1.00 subscription
and £3.50 donation means entitlement to £15.00 of groceries. Supermarket ‘in date’
and ‘use by’ products are also included by the centre in food preparation for a varie-
ty of groups including mums and toddlers and senior citizens.

They also have access to the neighbourly.com scheme which has a simple sign
up page for good causes. This links up with the local Lidl and Sainsbury’s supermar-
kets for free quality surplus meals and products.

One of the volunteers also goes over to Morrisons to collect donations from
their shoppers’ scheme as well as surplus food for meals.