We've been overwhelmed by the generosity of our colleagues and customers who've been supporting our food bank collection drive as part of the Asda Fight Hunger Create Change programme.
Volunteers at the collection points in more than 300 of our larger stores say they were inundated with much-needed donations of food and essential items.
The collection drive formed part of our three-year programme, which is donating £20 million to food charities FareShare and The Trussell Trust to provide a million people with the food and support they need to help them out of the situation they are in. It was timed to coincide with the increased demand for food banks ahead of the summer holidays, when research shows that referrals increase dramatically.
Food banks have been quick to thank our generous customers and colleagues for their support. Here are some of the messages they've been posting on social media:
Thank you so much to everyone who donated food @asda in Blackburn last week. Today we weighed it into the warehouse. A mind blowing 1,036.14 kilos. We really appreciate your support at this time of the year. Smiles all round the warehouse today @TrussellTrust pic.twitter.com/yYyTdbO4Oz
— Blackburn Foodbank (@Bburnfoodbank) July 15, 2019
Food Drive at ASDA St Leonards today, thank you to everyone who donated we collected 360.7kgs of food and £25.05 in cash...
Posted by Dunfermline Foodbank on Thursday, 18 July 2019
Many thanks to @asda Trafford Park for allowing Stretford foodbank 4hrs to collect in-store today. Photos show donations after about 1hr. pic.twitter.com/4IdhFS8qOt
— Stretford foodbank (@Stretfordfb) July 10, 2019
The ASDA collection is well underway and going well! Thanks to everyone who’s volunteering today! pic.twitter.com/ayB7omdgDm
— Rotherham Foodbank (@Rother_Foodbank) July 19, 2019
To Asda; all of you who so kindly donated food and funds; all the volunteers who generously gave their time to man the...
Posted by Isle of Wight foodbank on Monday, 22 July 2019
Here today till 4, but there is always a trolley for donations in store. Thanks to Chloe the Community champion for her enthusiasm. #FightHungerCreateChange #AsdaUK pic.twitter.com/OSRnislVcX
— SouthLivFoodbank (@S_Liv_Foodbank) July 11, 2019
Thanks to everyone that has supported us during the @asda food drive this week as part of Asda’s #fighthungercreatechange campaign to work towards a future where no one needs a #foodbank. pic.twitter.com/pHbWs5rzu2
— Leeds N & W foodbank (@NW_leedsfood) July 12, 2019
Huge thanks to @asdabodmin and to everyone who has kindly donated, your support makes such a big difference. Thanks to our lovely volunteers for giving up their time to help. pic.twitter.com/cTNpCrqVCn
— WadebridgeFoodbank (@WadebridgeFB) July 12, 2019
We are so grateful to the shoppers at @Asda #BrightonMarina and everyone at @stpeters_church #Brighton for their donations over the past week.
— The Whitehawk Foodbank (@WhitehawkFB) July 17, 2019
Our team unpacked today and the store room is looking much more healthy!
🙏🏻 Thank you for your generosity 💚 pic.twitter.com/tN3uGqyhGv
Huge thanks to the staff and customers at @asda Toryglen for a wonderful collection yesterday. Audrey and the team had many great conversations with people! pic.twitter.com/tKrEnWkGt4
— Glasgow SE Foodbank (@GlasgowSEFBank) July 14, 2019
Big thank you to everyone who donated to Gloucester Foodbank on Tuesday 9th July. You gave 498kg of food and toiletries to help us support local people ion crisis.
Posted by Gloucester Foodbank on Thursday, 11 July 2019
The team at Eastern Valley Foodbank couldn't thank the generous customers and colleagues at our Cwmbran store enough. They commented on Facebook to say: "Thank you to everyone who has donated food. In total we collected 51 crates full of food and met some very lovely people. Remember we have a collection trolley permanently in Asda so if you missed us you will be able to donate when ever is convenient for you."
Caroline, manager of the King's Foodbank, thanked everyone from Asda Darlington on Facebook, saying: "We feel extremely blessed by all the volunteers who give their time freely to serve others. They give above and beyond all that they are called to do. Volunteers are not paid ....not because they are worthless but because they are priceless."
Anne-Marie Shelbourne, the community champion at our Leckwith Road store in Cardiff, said: "Our customers are amazing! This photo is from the first hour of the food drive for Cardiff Foodbank and one trolley was already filled! We would like to thank them all."
Our community champions work closely with their local food banks, organising permanent collection points for them, helping when they need specific items, building awareness and volunteering their time.
Sinead Hinch from our Newark store tweeted to thank customers for their support – and to put the scale of their donations in perspective:
An amazing 243.2kg of items were donated during our two day food drive!!😯 This weight is the equivalent to two giant pandas🐼 A big thank you to everyone who donated items and also to the volunteers who manned the food drive🤗🛒 #FoodDrive #TrussellTrust #Foodbank #FHCC pic.twitter.com/uOixj4cLF8
— Community Champion (@AsdaNewark) July 22, 2019
Liz McCreery, the community champion at our Breck Road store, said she was overwhelmed by the support the collection drive for North Liverpool Foodbank received.
Liz said: "The generosity of donations and kind words from our customers and colleagues towards our Fight Hunger Create Change programme left me speechless.
"Thank you everyone so much. There were some very kindhearted children also asking their parents could they donate and our colleagues took the shopping list of most need items to donate as well. Coming into thesummer holidays, there is sadly always more need for this service in our community. What a worthwhile event."
Her views were echoed by June Thurston from Asda Hereford who tweeted to thank customers for their support and said: "We were amazed at the generosity of our customers and would like to say a huge thank you to everyone for supporting us."
A HUGE thank you to all of our customers for their very generous donations to @ herefordfoodbank today. One hour in and nearly 2 trolleys full @awesomeness @generous pic.twitter.com/eCFSpMEybK
— communitychampion (@asdahereford) July 12, 2019
Amanda Clegg, the community champion at our Halifax store, shared these photos from the store's collection drive and said: "An awesome day talking to our customers about Fight Hunger Create Change. Shoppers from all ages popped some extra items in their shop today. Even little shoppers Phoebe and Gilligan popped in some tins of spaghetti for the children!"
Our partnership, which is funded in part by sales of our Bags for Life, is enabling FareShare and The Trussell Trust to develop their infrastructure and expand their teams so they can transport and store more fresh food, work with more local food charities and address the longer-term issues causing peole to turn to them for help.
You can read more about the difference our investment is making to their work here.
