Aldi donated more than 4,500 meals to people in need in Derbyshire

Rev Debbie Loughran, Deputy Manager Max Slade-Jones with Aldi Assistant manager Nick Hankey and Kerry Debenham.

Aldi paired up four stores in Derbyshire with local charities and food banks to make the most of quality unsold fresh food after stores closed on Christmas Eve.

Around 185 tonnes of food was donated across the country, with more than 440,000 meals donated and more than 500 UK charities benefitting from the initiative in total.

This follows on from the successful partnership between Aldi and Neighbourly, a community engagement platform that links businesses to key charitable organisations.

The initiative was rolled out to all UK stores last year and Aldi has paired up four stores in Derbyshire with local good causes, that are now collecting surplus food up to five days a week, all year round.

The partnership began in April 2019 and has helped Aldi donate more than four million meals, exceeding their target for the year.

Fritz Walleczek, managing director of corporate responsibility at Aldi UK, said: “By donating fresh food such as bread, fruit, vegetables and meat we’ve been able to support charities in providing warm and healthy festive meals this Christmas season.

“The feedback has been overwhelming and we’re delighted that we’ve been able to go above and beyond with our donations once again this year, and reach hundreds of charities in regions like Derbyshire across the UK.”

For the third year running, Aldi stores across the country have donated surplus food on Christmas Eve to local charities and food banks via its Neighbourly partnership. Neighbourly is a community engagement platform that links businesses to key charitable organisations.

Neighbourly was set up in 2014 by a group of like-minded people that believed there was a new way to significantly grow community investment, by making it easier for people to ask for, and to give help.

Through the Neighbourly platform, large businesses and their employees are finding it easier to discover and support local community causes meaning these organisations can get more of the essential funding, manpower and expertise they need to continue their incredible work.