Local supermarket’s foodbank drive – store colleagues help launch Asda’s Fight Hunger Create Change programme.
A supermarket in Downpatrick has teamed up with a local foodbank to collect food for local people facing hunger.
Colleagues at Asda Downpatrick have helped launched the drive to collect food donations at the store, as part of a nationwide drive by the supermarket chain.
Shoppers will be able to donate much-needed supplies, which will go to Fountain Foodbank, when they are doing their shopping at dedicated instore collection points.
The foodbank distributes food to people across Downpatrick and the surrounding area – including Killyleagh, Ardglass, Strangford, Killough and Clough – and last year provided over 734 emergency food parcels to local people in crisis.
With Asda’s help, the charity hopes to be able to feed even more people this year.
The initiative is part of Asda’s new three-year ‘Fight Hunger Create Change’ programme, working in partnership with foodbank charity The Trussell Trust and food redistribution charity FareShare, to invest at least £20 million to try and lift one million people in the UK out of food poverty.
The partnership is part of the supermarket chain’s commitment to help tackle hunger across the country and will be funded by sales of Asda’s Bags for Life.
The investment will also enable FareShare and The Trussell Trust to develop their infrastructure so they can transport and store more fresh food.
Locally, the initiative is being led by Asda’s instore community colleagues, who will have been working closely with their local food banks to ensure they receive donations of the items that make the most difference
Andrea McQuoid, who is the community colleague at Asda Downpatrick, said: “Our customers and colleagues are always very generous and we’re really pleased to be getting behind the wider Asda Fight Hunger Create Change campaign, which will make a difference on a very local level as well as on bigger scale across Northern Ireland.
“Over the next few weeks we’ll have food collection points instore, with donations going to local food banks and the donations we’ve received so far are already making a difference with those who need them.”
Find out more about the Asda Fight Hunger Create Change initiative here:
