Lidl donates PPE to charity

Lidl and Neighbourly are working together to donate and distribute over 80,000 PPE units to front-line charity workers.

The donation comes in response to Neighbourly and the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) highlighting the ongoing need for front-line charity workers to have adequate protection, despite encouraging COVID-19 figures being reported. A year since the first national lockdown was introduced, many small charities and local causes are needing to stretch seriously limited resources to buy additional PPE so they can continue providing essential support.

In a recent survey of over 600 frontline workers across Neighbourly’s network of good causes, including food banks, elderly care groups and youth centres, over 87 per cent said they need PPE including face coverings to help protect staff and volunteers.

Boxes of face coverings are being distributed immediately by Lidl stores to over 800 good causes partnered with them for food surplus donations through Neighbourly, the supermarket’s community investment and engagement partner.

Martina Petrovic, head of communications and CSR at Lidl GB, said: “We are so grateful to the charity staff and volunteers who continue to work extremely hard to provide life-saving support to people across our communities - but they still all need adequate protection from COVID-19. While the steady reductions in infection rates are encouraging, it’s vital that all frontline workers have the face coverings they still urgently need, to minimise the risks to both them and the people they support.”
Lidl has been working with Neighbourly since 2017 on its Feed It Back programme, which enables all Lidl stores across England, Scotland and Wales to donate food surplus to local charities tackling food insecurity. Through Neighbourly, Lidl has already donated more than seven million meals to a wide range of good causes.

Together with Lidl, M&S, Danone, Southern Co-op, Aldi, Coca-Cola European Partners, Heineken and giffgaff, Neighbourly launched its Community Fund at the start of the pandemic, which channelled more than £1.2m worth of micro-grants to more than 3,000 local causes, who in turn supported more than one million people. Building on the principles of the Fund, the Neighbourly Foundation was launched last year, which uses a permanent structure that responds to ongoing local need.

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