Food rescue organisation SecondBite will be able to provide the equivalent of more than ten million meals to feed vulnerable Australians after Coles raised nearly $2.2 million in the lead up to Christmas.
In a clear indication of community spirit in difficult times, shoppers gave generously to Coles' Christmas Appeal amid new research1 which showed 80 per cent of community food charities expected greater demand due to COVID-19.
All funds raised in Coles supermarkets as well as Liquorland, First Choice Liquor Market and Vintage Cellars stores during the Appeal will go to SecondBite so it can continue its essential work of rescuing and delivering unsold, edible food to around 1400 community organisations which provide food relief in the form of cooked meals, food hampers and essential ingredients.
The funds represented a record amount raised at Christmas by Coles for SecondBite and topping the list for the highest fundraising supermarket in each state were Broadway in NSW, Elsternwick in Victoria, The Pines in Queensland, Firle in SA, Casuarina in NT, Charles Street (Launceston) in TAS, Maddington in WA and Chisholm in the ACT.
The five highest fundraising Coles liquor stores in the nation were First Choice Liquor stores in Falcon (WA), Duncraig (WA), Cleveland (QLD), Morayfield (QLD) and Bendigo (VIC).
SecondBite CEO Steve Clifford said the funds raised for SecondBite in Coles' Christmas Appeal will go a long way towards helping Australians in need of food relief as we enter a third year of pandemic-induced uncertainty.
"Prior to Christmas, eight out of ten community organisations told us they expected demand for food relief to increase due to the impact of COVID-19. These funds help us to address this increased demand because for every dollar raised by Coles, we can provide the equivalent of five meals to a person or family in need," he said.
Coles Chief Sustainability, Property and Export Officer Thinus Keevé said the Christmas Appeal coincided with the 10-year anniversary of Coles' partnership with SecondBite and was key to Coles' ambitions for zero hunger and zero waste.
"We are enormously grateful to our customers who embraced the spirit of Christmas by giving so generously to SecondBite to enable meals to be provided to Australians in need. It clearly suggests that many of our shoppers put aside their own challenges arising from COVID-19 to think of others in a worse situation," he said.
In addition to raising funds for SecondBite through the Christmas Appeal, more than 800 Coles supermarkets donate unsold, edible food to SecondBite to provide food relief and community organisations across Australia.
Since 2011, Coles has helped donate enough surplus fresh food to SecondBite to provide the equivalent of 160 million meals to disadvantaged Australians.
