Green Forum • 10 May, 2024 at 8:00 AM
Between April 19th and 21st, 2024, in collaboration with the Food Banks Network, Lidl Romania organized its tenth national food collection event to support disadvantaged communities during the Easter holidays. With the help of Lidl customers, a record-breaking quantity of over 181 tons of food was collected, marking the largest amount of food donated since the inception of the initiative.
To provide additional support to vulnerable communities during the Easter holidays, Lidl Romania, along with the Food Bank and with the support of FEPRA, organized the tenth edition of the food collection event throughout April. The three-day initiative took place nationwide, in all Lidl stores across the country. Products donated by customers were collected by 2,743 Food Bank volunteers and distributed to 207 NGOs across various regions by the end of April. In total, over 181 tons of food were collected, reaching over 42,000 vulnerable individuals in nursing homes, foster care centers for minors, social canteens, and homeless shelters.
The donated products included non-perishable items such as basic foodstuffs (oil, flour, sugar, rice, baking ingredients), canned vegetables, canned meat, canned fruits, pasta, sauces, UHT milk, packaged bakery products, biscuits, coffee, tea, jams, and spreads. All nine Regional Food Banks participated in this edition of the collection campaign, located in Bucharest, Cluj, Roman, Brasov, Oradea, Timisoara, Constanta, Craiova, and Galati.
Key figures illustrating the impact of community solidarity include:
Cereal and bakery products accounted for approximately half of the collected quantity, followed by fats and oils, protein-based products, and confectionery items.
Record quantities were donated by customers at Lidl stores in Huși, Vaslui county (5,148 kg), Râmnicu Vâlcea, Vâlcea county (3,252 kg), and Târgu Lăpuș, Maramureș county (3,232 kg).
Regionally, the largest quantities of food were collected and directed by the Food Bank in Cluj (over 41 tons), Roman (over 28 tons), and Bucharest (over 23 tons), to 104 beneficiary NGOs.
The food collections organized in Lidl stores are not the only actions through which the retailer aims to support the Food Bank's mission. As a founding partner, the retailer has committed to financially support the start-up costs of each Regional Bank and a portion of their operating costs, as well as contribute to the development of infrastructure for such a network. Since the opening of the first Food Bank, Lidl Romania has invested approximately 14,600,000 lei in the development of the Food Banks network in Romania and has donated over 3,300 tons of food and non-food products to the cause.