As the festive season approaches, many look forward to a time of joy and celebration.

But with the struggle of putting food on their tables also comes the familiar face of food insecurity.

However, there's a way to help, and it's as simple as rounding up your grocery bill.

Woolworths has pledged to match every dollar customers donate to the OzHarvest Christmas Appeal to help address the struggle of 3.7 million households in putting food on their tables.

This initiative, running until 26 December, allows Woolworths customers 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.

Woolworths and OzHarvest partnered to help Australia’s food insecurity. Credit: OzHarvest

The supermarket giant has committed to match all donations, enabling OzHarvest to deliver food to more than 1900 charities nationwide.

OzHarvest CEO and Founder Ronni Kahn emphasised the significance of even the smallest donation. '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.’

Kahn added that 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.’

‘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,’ she said.

According to Woolworth’s Managing Director Natalie Davis, Woolworths and OzHarvest have been food rescue partners for eight years, helping the charity deliver over 70 million meals to those in need.

Small contributions from customers during the Christmas appeal created an immeasurable impact, said Woolworths Team Member Emily Purnomo.

'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, Woolworths also donates 50 cents from every pack of Woolworths Santa Cookies sold in stores and online to OzHarvest.

Woolworths and OzHarvest were also witnessed in a previous community pantry project just this year. The Lomandra Community Project was an initiative providing free and discounted food from partners to struggling community members. The partners also put together 500 weekly food hampers to send to local schools and emergency relief programs.

The initiative was set up 12 years ago by the Lomandra School to ensure students had access to nutritious food to positively influence their academic performance and create a better learning environment. Learn more about the initiative here.

Key Takeaways

• Woolworths has committed to match every dollar donated by customers to the OzHarvest Christmas Appeal to address Australia's food insecurity.
• Until 26 December, Woolworths customers can donate by rounding up their shop to the nearest dollar at self-checkouts, adding a 50-cent token at full-service lanes or donating online.
• OzHarvest CEO Ronni Kahn said that a donation of 50 cents can deliver two meals to people in need.
• As OzHarvest’s national food rescue partner for eight years, Woolworths has helped the charity deliver 70 million meals to people in need.

What are your thoughts on this initiative? Have you donated to the OzHarvest Christmas Appeal? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

 

[darrellh]

If the supermarkets stopped gouging customers and this relentless nonstop increase on all their products, more customers could afford to shop more easily. Now they want us to spend more and round up. How do we know that is going where it should be. They can't be trusted to pay their staff correctly so how to we know this money is going to the unfortuante!

 

[magpie1]

I think many of us understand the word 'Struggle' in our daily lives because of the cost of living crisis so many face each week. In this instance the initiative of OZ Harvest and Woolworths is to be commended for their Oz Harvest Christmas Appeal to help Australians facing food insecurity at this time of the year. It's a once off appeal for a truly worthwhile cause and if we all gave a few cents on our bill total it can make for an enjoyable Christmas for so many families.

 

[David567]

Wouldn't it be more to the point if they reduced their profots from 100% make up to 5% mark up and still donate to charity. They won't match this offer. Who is going to monitor these donations to see they keep their word. Bit like the milk increase. Many dairy farmer never got the promise of support from the milk price rise. Coles were caught out on that one. I think it's just another excuse to get more money. Have you also noticed that none of these profit mongers ever donate to charity. It's allways the poor people who make donation to help other poor people. I say either lower prices for everyone or donate some of your millions you steal from your customers everyday. If all these billionaire companies donated their stolen money the world be a better place.