With 3.7 million Australian households struggling to put food on their tables, Woolworths has pledged to match every dollar donated by customers to the OzHarvest Christmas Appeal.
Until December 26, Woolworths customers can choose to round up their shop to the nearest dollar at self-checkouts, add a 50 cent token at the full service lanes or donate when making online purchases.
The supermarket will match all donations, helping OzHarvest deliver food to more than 1900 charities.
OzHarvest CEO and founder Ronni Kahn said a donation of 50 cents meant they could deliver two meals to people in need.
“Every donation counts … even a few cents when you round up at the checkout will truly make a difference,” she said.
“We’ve all felt it, so it probably isn’t a surprise to hear that the rising cost of living is the number one reason more people than ever are experiencing food insecurity.
“We see new people every day, turning to charities for help for the first time in their lives – these are people with jobs and mortgages who are just struggling to make ends meet.
“I have never seen demand for food so high, so we truly appreciate every dollar donated.”
She said the “great thing about the Woolies appeal is that the donations stay in the local community”.
“We’re always working with Woolies to optimise food rescue, we currently rescue over 140 tonnes a week from around 600 Woolworths stores nationally,” she said.
“Our goal is to get more food to more people as efficiently as we can. We’re looking into new regional areas where we know there is need and how we can address that together.”
As OzHArvest’s national food rescue partner for eight years, Woolworths has helped the charity deliver 70 million meals to people in need, the supermarket’s managing director Natalie Davis said.
Woolworths team member Emily Purnomo said the small contributions from customers during the Christmas appeal had immeasurable impact.
“There are so many different stories that people have when we hear from the community centres, the shelters, the youth homelessness charities who receive donations from the OzHarvest team with food from our stores,” she said.
“I think the partnership between OzHarvest and Woolworths is important, particularly at this time of year and so many of our customers love getting involved each year.”
In addition to matched donations, 50 cents from every pack of Woolworths Dreamy Choc Chip Santa Cookies sold in stores and online will be donated to OzHarvest.