A Lidl helping hand: discounter donates 260,000 meals to families over May half term as it unveils first Community Impact Report

• Lidl is donating 260,000 meals over the 2024 May half term – as it unveils its first ever ‘Community Impact Report’.
• The new report highlights the breadth of Lidl’s commitment to supporting those in communities who need it most – as 8 in 10 charities continue to see a growth in demand for their services.*
• In 2023, Lidl’s support generated the value of £13.5 million for good causes including Neighbourly, the NSPCC, and local organisations – from grants and donations to food and toys. This includes over 10 million meals and over 100,000 toys donated by Lidl to local charities and community groups last year alone.

Lidl is donating over 260,000 meals over the 2024 May half term – as it unveils its first ever Community Impact Report revealing that last year it provided food, funding, and toys to the value of £13.5 million* to local communities.

Across 2023, the majority of Lidl’s support – over 90% – went to organisations that support children, young people, and young families.

Against the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis, the new report outlines the retailer’s investment in British communities on two vital fronts: supporting young people’s mental health and tackling food insecurity.

Acting on its current NSPCC partnership, which is focussed on giving every child a place to talk about their mental health, during 2023 the supermarket raised over £1.77 million for the running of counselling service Childline. It is on track to raise a total of over £10 million by 2025.

Lidl’s Community Impact Report also highlights how it is working closely with local community groups to fight food insecurity. Last year, its fresh and frozen food donations provided over 10 million meals* to over 2,000 food banks, which in turn supported thousands of people across Great Britain. Additionally, Lidl provided more than 100,000 toys to charities through its Christmas Toy Bank.

Mark Newbold, Senior CSR Manager at Lidl GB, said: “With over 960 stores across the length and breadth of Great Britain, Lidl is at the very heart of thousands of communities. We’ve worked with our charity partners to conduct in depth research to ensure that the support we give reaches the people in those communities who need it the most.

“We’re proud to outline our successes to date in our first ever Community Impact Report, but our dedication doesn’t stop here. Our purpose is to make good food accessible to everyone and we take that very seriously as times continue to be uncertain and many families struggle to keep themselves afloat. We’ll continue to do everything we can to support the increase in demand for local charities and services. Thank you to all the colleagues and customers who have supported us in this journey so far.”

During the 2024 Easter school holidays, the discounter donated over 485,000 meals to local causes and charities.

Most of Lidl’s food is distributed by local organisations in Lidl’s ‘Feed it Back’ network coordinated by Neighbourly. Since 2022, more than 1000 charities in this network have also received £1.2 million worth of Lidl grants to help give those in need in their communities – over 420,000 people, 37% of which are children – immediate or long-term access to good food.

To find out more about Lidl’s community commitments, read Lidl’s first ever Community Impact Report in full at https://corporate.lidl.co.uk/sustainability/sustainability-reports

1. *81% – Neighbourly Community Survey, 15 November 2023, 1,300 responses.
2. *This figure was calculated based on:
   • Lidl’s financial donations, and the financial value of Lidl’s surplus food donations and toy donations.
   • Customers’ financial donations via Lidl, as well as the financial value of customers’ food and toy donations via Lidl.
3. *This is a combination of Lidl’s unsold surplus and customer donations.