The John Lewis Partnership will donate four million healthy snacks to help feed children and families in need this summer
Wednesday 4 August 2021
With up to three million children at risk of going hungry over the school holidays, the John Lewis Partnership has unveiled a number of initiatives to help families in need this summer.
Specifically, we will be:
- Working with FareShare andWaitrose farmers and suppliers to provide 4 million healthy snacks* over the summer to more than 3000 charities and local organisations across the UK, many of which will be part of the government’s Holiday Activities and Food Programme.
- Making an annual donation of £200k to theTrussell Trust, which will help to enable 136 food banks in the Trussell Trust network to support thousands of families with emergency food and practical support over the summer - with 55,000 families that use food banks in the Trussell Trust network having been supported already this year.
- Inviting and encouraging customers to donate to help families online via DONR
Marija Rompani, Ethics & Sustainability Director at the John Lewis Partnership, comments:“The summer holidays should be a glorious and carefree time for young children but the sad reality is that many go hungry.
“We know many families are struggling this summer and we want to do our part.We are therefore harnessing our long-standing relationships with our farmers and suppliers to provide nourishing and healthy snacks this summer.We can’t act in isolation and are thrilled that so many food businesses are joining us in taking an active role this summer to help vulnerable families in need. If we all join together in tackling this issue, then we can help end child poverty for good.”
This new initiative follows in the footsteps of the John Lewis Partnership’s Give a Little Love** “Farm to Family” initiative, which saw 5 million surplus food items diverted directly from British farms to reach families in need across the UK in a major industry first***.
NOTES TO EDITORS
*Volume by fruit type will vary from week to week however the selection will include bananas, grapes, stone fruit (peach, nectarine, plum), citrus fruits, melon, exotic fruits (mango, kiwi) as well as tomatoes and cucumber.
**The JLP’s Give a Little Love campaign aims to make a lasting difference to some of those hit hardest during the last year. It has already raised over £3million for long term charity partners FareShare, Home-Start and local community groups, with a further £2million pledged earlier this year.
***FareShare is the UK largest food redistribution charity in the UK believing that no good food should go to waste, especially when people are going hungry.We’ve partnered with FareShare for a number of years, and our first phase of the Farm to Family initiative (March to July 2021) was transformational. Some key figures associated with this campaign include:
- Total tonnage of food redistributed - 514 tonnes
- Equivalent number of meals donated -1,490,544 meals
- Number of charities supported - 3,500
- Estimated number of beneficiaries supported - 420,000 beneficiaries
- Estimated Co2 saving - 526,400kg 1,645,856 kg of Co2 saved
About the John Lewis Partnership
The John Lewis Partnership owns and operates two of Britain's best-loved retail brands - John Lewis and Waitrose. Started as a radical idea nearly a century ago, the Partnership is the largest employee-owned business in the UK and amongst the largest in the world, with over 80,000 employees who are all Partners in the business. Profits made are reinvested into the business - for customers and Partners. John Lewis operates 42 shops plus one outlet across the UK as well as johnlewis.com. Waitrose has 331 shops in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, including 59 convenience branches, and another 27 shops at Welcome Break locations. The retailer's omnichannel business includes the online grocery service, Waitrose.com, as well as specialist online shops including waitrosecellar.com for wine and waitroseflorist.com for plants and flowers.