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Online supermarket Ocado has donated a refrigerated delivery van to its food bank charity partner in Andover, as part of a project to help them to receive more fresh food.
The van has been purchased by the Ocado Foundation and will be donated to foodbank charity FareShare Southern Central, which provides food to charities and community groups who transform it into nutritious meals for vulnerable people in Hampshire. The Ocado Foundation has previously donated four vans to food bank charity partners: two to EdibleLinks in North Warwickshire, as well as one each to FEED in St Albans and DENS in Hemel Hempstead.
The introduction of a refrigerated van means the foodbank will be able to receive fresh food, rather than being limited solely to tinned and non-perishable produce, which is often what gets donated by customers in collection bins.
Suzanne Westlake, Head of Corporate Responsibility at Ocado, explains:
We wanted to find a long term, sustainable solution to the problem of wasted food in order to help reduce the large quantity that is thrown away in the UK, while providing a variety of fresh and ambient products to a worthy cause.
We have been donating food as part of the “Donate Food with Ocado” offering since December 2014 and, building on that, we then began donating customer-cancelled orders (including fresh food with products with long sell by dates) straight to our food bank partners. Because we are committed to tackling this important issue, we believe by donating this refrigerated van we can help anyone and everyone in the Hampshire area benefit from nutritious and delicious meals.”
Polly Hofmann, Commercial Officer at Fareshare adds:
Since we began our partnership with Ocado, they have provided us with over 100,000 meals, consistently helping to ensure we have an abundance of produce to distribute across Hampshire. We are extremely grateful for their donation of a refrigerated food van as we know just how much of a difference it will make for our outreach programme, ensuring we can distribute fresh food to those who need it most.”
Ocado launched its Donate Food with Ocado scheme in December 2014, which allows customers to add a specified amount – £2.50, £5 or £10 – to their online trolley as a donation towards groceries for food banks, which Ocado will then match. Since the scheme launched three years ago, Ocado has donated over 383 tonnes of food to food banks across the country.
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