Supermarket donates 12,000 meals to people in need in Lincolnshire, including those in Boston area

Items donated to the Restore Church, in Boston, on Christmas Eve, from among others, Aldi.

Aldi paired up its stores with local charities, community groups and food banks to make the most of unsold fresh and chilled food on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

The action was taken as part of the business’ pledge to donate 1.8 million meals to families experiencing food poverty during November and December.

Mary Dunn, managing director of corporate responsibility at Aldi UK, said: “The festive season is always a hard time for people affected by food poverty, so we are incredibly proud to have supported so many amazing causes in Lincolnshire this Christmas.”

About 550,000 meals were donated nationwide, with more than 700 UK causes benefitting overall.

The initiative formed part of Aldi’s partnership with Neighbourly, a platform that links businesses to charitable organisations.

Thanks to this, all of Aldi’s 950-plus UK stores now donate surplus food to good causes seven-days-a-week, all year round (the allocations on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve represented bumper donations).

Since beginning its partnership with Neighbourly in April 2019, Aldi has donated more than 20 million meals across the UK.

Steve Butterworth, from Neighbourly, said: “This Christmas was without a doubt one of the busiest on record for the UK’s charities and food banks.

“The sizeable donations from Aldi would have been a massive lifeline for so many of them.”

In Boston, the Restore Church was the cause to benefit.

Emma Fawcett, Restore Homes key worker manager, said on Christmas Eve alone 1,288kg of surplus food was received, with Lidl, Booker and London Road Bakery also adding to the tally.

“This included turkeys, chickens, ready meals, cakes, bread and vegetables,” she said. “This food provided was given to over 80 people on Christmas Eve and has helped us to continue to provide food for homeless and vulnerable people through the soup kitchen.

“The surplus food provided at Christmas and through the year by supermarkets and local businesses enable Restore Church to provide food to those who homeless, vulnerable or on a low income. This is done through the Soup kitchen which serves 30-40 people, six nights a week with a hot meal and Restore Pantry which allows anyone who needs to come and do a small shop for a low cost membership fee enabling them to greatly reduce the cost of their weekly shop.”