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ALDI DONATES AN EXTRA €25,000 OF NON-SURPLUS FOOD TO FOODCLOUD

FoodCloud experiences 78% increase in demand for donations from charities in last 12 months

Aldi is donating an additional €25,000 in retail value of non-surplus food to FoodCloud as the charity announces it is experiencing ongoing record demand for its services due to Covid-19.

FoodCloud has experienced an unprecedented surge in demand from charities for its food redistribution services over the past 12 months. Between March 2020, when the pandemic began, and February 2021,
FoodCloud have increased the volumes of food donations to communities by 78% through their three hubs. In 2020, over 3,022 tonnes of food, equating to more than 7.2 million meals, were distributed through retail partners and FoodCloud Hubs to charities across the country.

As part of its programme of increased support to FoodCloud, Aldi is also:

• Increasing its daily store donations of surplus food to community groups with a charitable purpose, in addition to registered charities, for the first time.
• Increasing the frequency of retail surplus food donations to seven days a week to include Saturdays and Sundays.
• Introducing a new volunteering programme for staff. Aldi’s store Charity Champions will be allocated paid hours to support FoodCloud’s dedicated teams in distributing food from their Hubs.
• Donating unsold poultry, beef, duck and lamb this Easter Sunday, following its successful donation of similar foods over Christmas.

Commenting, John Curtin, Aldi Group Buying Director, said: “We are proud to continue to support FoodCloud with additional donations. We are also extending our reach to help more charities and people in need across local communities. Covid-19 has put increasing pressure on us all and we are looking forward to lending an extra hand through our new staff volunteering programme.”

Welcoming the donation, Aoibheann O’Brien, co-founder of FoodCloud, said: “FoodCloud has seen a record year for demand on its services due to the hardships many people continue to face due to Covid-19. More and more charities and groups have been seeking our services and we are incredibly grateful for Aldi’s further donation of €25,000 of non-surplus food. We will continue to help charities and communities in need across the country, and we look forward to the extra support Aldi staff will be able to give us.”

Joey Murtagh, St James Camino, said: “On any given day our organisation provides food for up to 40 adults. Thanks to Aldi donations there has been a significant decrease in our annual food bill and working with FoodCloud overall has enabled us to expand our services by 30%. Food is a huge part of the service we provide and we really rely on food donations”
Aldi supported FoodCloud financially through a donation of €50,000 of food in March 2020, equating to an extra 4,000 meals a week. Aldi also became the first retailer in Ireland to donate non-surplus food to FoodCloud over the pandemic to help with the increase in demand it was experiencing.

FoodCloud connects businesses with surplus food to charities in need, and currently supplies a network of over 750 charities. Food is distributed in two ways, direct from stores and through three dedicated FoodCloud hubs to help charities reach those most vulnerable in their communities.