Lidl has highlighted its charitable efforts in its first annual ‘Community Impact Report’, detailing the £20m it generated for good causes in 2023.
The report’s publication follows Lidl’s donation of over 260,000 meals during the May half-term school holidays.
Lidl donated over 10 million meals and 100,000 toys to local charities and community groups in 2023, working in partnership with redistribution platform Neighbourly.
Across the year, over 90% of the support from the discounter and its customers went to organisations helping children, young people, and young families.
The report outlines Lidl’s investment in communities on two key fronts: supporting young people’s mental health and tackling food insecurity.
Through its partnership with the NSPCC, Lidl raised over £1.77m towards the running of counselling service Childline. It is on track to have raised over £10m by 2025.
The supermarket’s surplus helped over 2,000 foodbanks tackle food insecurity, while its Christmas Toy Banks in stores resulted in the distribution of more than 100,000 toy donations, according to the report.
“With over 960 stores across the length and breadth of Great Britain, Lidl is at the very heart of thousands of communities,” said Lidl GB senior CSR manager Mark Newbold.
“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.”
Since 2022, more than 1,000 charities in Lidl’s redistribution network with Neighbourly have also received £1.2m-worth of grants from the supermarket to help those in need in their communities. It has helped over 420,000 people – 37% of whom are children – receive immediate or long-term access to good food, according to Lidl.
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