M&S stores across Wales donate over £1m meals to local communities

M&S stores across Wales have donated more than £1m meals to those in need through its food redistribution programme.

Charities across Wales, such as Food4All, Caerau Development Trust, FoodShare North Wales and the Need to Feed, have partnered with local M&S stores including M&S Culverhouse Cross, M&S Cardiff and M&S Aberystwyth to help provide free food to those in need.

Caerau Development Trust has received 133,000 meal donations from M&S since the programme began in 2015, benefitting vulnerable people and local families in the area.

Luke Sinnott, a spokesperson from Caerau Development Trust, said: “Caerau is one of the most deprived area in Wales so the work we do is vital to our local community. The donations we have received from the M&S Neath and Culverhouse Cross stores have helped the community so much, and we can’t thank them enough. The quality of food and flowers is always first class and it is a huge help to the families in need in our local areas.”

Neil Enoch, Store Manager at M&S Culverhouse Cross, said: “We’re proud of the role we play in our community and we’re continuing to contribute where we can. We’re thrilled that our food redistribution programme with Neighbourly has already helped to make such a difference to charities like Caerau Development who do such an incredible job in our community.”

Whilst the food redistribution programme has been going since 2015, the 2020 rollout of an innovative colleague app which makes it easier for store teams to donate surplus food to charities has allowed M&S to respond to the increased demand for donations from groups who are helping vulnerable people through difficult times during the pandemic. The app is in all 585 M&S stores, enabling many of them to more than double their food redistribution rates. Across the UK, donations since March 2020 have now surpassed the 16 million mark.

M&S is always looking for new partners to work with. Local charity and community groups who would like to get involved in the food surplus programme or other charity initiatives are encouraged to email mandsfood@neighbourly.com to find out more.