Shoprite donates over R11 million in surplus food to distressed communities

South Africa – The Shoprite Group has since the start of the lockdown donated surplus food valued at more than R11 million to over 230 vetted non-governmental organisations (NGOs), providing 3.7 million meals for the growing number of hungry South Africans.

It also partnered with its customers to raise more than R3.1 million via its in-store Act For Change Fund collection facility for the Solidarity Fund in aid of the most vulnerable during this crisis. The surplus food beneficiaries have all reported a marked increase in the number of people in distress due to wide-scale loss of income as a result of the lockdown.

One such organisation, Randburg-based Nosh Food Rescue, has since the lockdown began, seen the number of charities it supplies increase from 32 to 51 organisations. “We have been able to scale up partly due to the donations we receive from our 15 Checkers partner stores throughout Gauteng,” said Hanneke van der Linge, the organisation’s managing director.

Nosh diverts, repurposes and redistributes prepared and perishable surplus food, and has provided over 50,000 meals to soup kitchens and feeding schemes over the past 5 years. “We recently achieved the significant milestone of distributing 31,500 cooked meals since the start of lockdown. This is in addition to the food hampers our partner organisations distribute daily,” added Van der Linge.

Shoprite press release extracts, 14 May 2020