Woolworths is to give an additional $1 million in support of Australian charities helping get food to consumers in need as demand for help soars in the wake of Covid lockdowns.
Charities receiving the fund include OzHarvest, Foodbank, Fareshare and Good360. An initial $500,000 commitment from Woolworths is slated for increasing the delivery of food hampers and pre-prepared meals for Australians in need.
“This additional support from Woolworths couldn’t have come at a more important time,” said Brianna Casey, CEO of Foodbank Australia. “With so many parts of the country in lockdown right now and the lingering impacts of Covid-19 being felt by communities everywhere, we’ve never needed more emergency food relief.”
Meanwhile, Woolworths customers can support food-relief efforts by rounding up their purchases to the nearest dollar at the self-serve checkouts. Money raised will be donated to Foodbank. Customers can also donate the equivalent cost of a hamper to further help OzHarvest scale up their food hamper hubs in some of the hardest hit areas of the country.
Woolworths will match dollar for dollar any money donated by customers in-store or online, up to $500,000 to further support its food relief partners. Its latest support comes on top of the $8 million provided to food relief partners over the last 12 months.
“Caring for Australian communities is an important part of what it means to be today’s Fresh Food People,” said Brad Banducci, CEO of Woolworths Group.
“While our store teams have been on the frontline serving the essential needs of the community, our charity partners have likewise been doing incredible work ensuring Australians hit hardest by this crisis can still access quality nutritious food and essential household goods.”
