Generous customers and colleagues support our Fight Hunger campaign
A big thank you to all our customers and colleagues across the country who've been getting behind our Asda Fight Hunger Create Change campaign.
Over the next two weeks we'll have food collection points in around 300 of our larger stores, with donations going to local foodbanks. It's just the first in a series of big initiatives over the next three years as we team up with FareShare and The Trussell Trust to invest at least £20 million to try to lift one million people in the UK out of food poverty.
Our partnership, which is funded in part by sales of our Bags for Life, will enable FareShare and The Trussell Trust to develop their infrastructure so they can transport and store more fresh food.
There's also a big focus on More Than Food projects, providing support such as debt advice for people at the point of crisis.
Michelle Castledine, from our Gosforth store, is one of the community champions who's leading the activity. Michelle, pictured here with store manager Emma Frostick and customer Ann Weightman, has volunteered for the last four years at West End foodbank in Newcastle.
She said: "They're a great team at the foodbank – they're all volunteers from all sorts of different backgrounds who do everything for the foodbank in their own time.
"When I go there I'm either making teas and coffees for the people who come in, or helping the volunteers make up the food parcels which are given out.
"They don't just help people with food – they also usually have people there who can advise them on the issues they may be having."
Laura Biddulph, community champion at our Reddish store, says she was overwhelmed by customers' support for the initiative this weekend.
She said: " Wow, our customers are so generous! Thank you to the volunteers from Burnage foodbank Margaret Marie and Oliver. Such overwhelming generosity from everyone."
Our community champions have been working closely with their local foodbanks to ensure they receive donations of the items that make the most difference, like in Gloucester where our store's community champion Fay Edwards said her local foodbank had specifically requested baked beans. She said: "The Trussell Trust is coming to collect today’s donations so they can start giving them to those who need them straight away."
Sandra Deakins, the community champion at our Pudsey store, said: "It's been a great first day. Our customers and colleagues have supported the trolley in store for more than two years but today was unbelievable and I had to leave another trolley out when I left work. Thank you to everyone!"
Lots of colleagues at our store in Abbey Lane, Leicester, dressed up to lend their support for the campaign.
And generous customers at our Stevenage store soon filled a trolley with food and drink for local charity Foodshed.
Find out more about the Asda Fight Hunger Create Change initiative here.