Tesco has given almost 300,000 meals to Kildare charities in three years

Tesco Ireland has redistributed over 297,800 meals to charities across Kildare since the launch of its pioneering surplus food donations programme in partnership with FoodCloud in July 2014.

Eleven charities and community groups in Kildare are already registered and are actively benefiting from the programme on a daily basis. This has resulted in a saving of €406,100 to charities across the county as they are spending significantly less on food for their service users.

As the first retailer to partner with FoodCloud in 2014, Tesco Ireland is leading the way in tackling the issue of food waste and is calling on more local charities to sign up to its surplus food donations programme.

As part of this programme local causes receive surplus food that is perfectly fit for human consumption but cannot be sold for a variety of reasons, for example, fresh produce that will not be sold the next day, short dated product, or products with slightly damaged packaging.

By using dedicated technology in stores, Tesco colleagues notify registered charities within the store catchment area when surplus food is available to be collected.

The St Wolstan’s branch of the St Vincent de Paul in Celbridge Co. Kildare has benefited from the food donations programme over the past three years.

St. Wolstan’s SVP volunteer, Mary, manages this programme. “Working with SVP makes you realise what you have. We do all sorts in the community to help people including delivering food to those in need, providing vouchers for people who require help occasionally, helping with school costs, organising toy collections for children, providing furniture and even painting homes if necessary. We also listen, sometimes people just want an ear”; she says.

“About 30 families in the area receive food parcels as a result of the Tesco food donations programme. We receive deliveries three nights a week from Tesco Celbridge and volunteers pack them up into parcels and deliver them to those in need. The donations vary hugely - fruit vegetables, meat and cheese amongst many others. Families that get food parcels weekly can save €50 or €60 a week which is incredibly helpful.

“The staff in Tesco Celbridge are very helpful and pleasant. The SVP’s participation in the food surplus programme has reaped huge rewards for its members, allowing them to expand the services they provide. The scheme is really a win win for everybody.” Mary concluded.

Tesco said: “Even in the most efficient retail operations, there will inevitably be surplus food and we are proud to be making a valuable contribution to local communities enabling organisations to focus on the vital services they provide.”

To find out more about Tesco Ireland’s surplus food donation programme, pop in to any local Tesco store or sign up via emailing: [email protected]