Support that is urgently needed: The food banks in Germany receive over 1,130 tonnes of long-life food. This comes from the "Gemeinsam Teller füllen" (Filling plates together) campaign organised by REWE and nahkauf. For a fortnight, our stores across Germany called on customers to donate six selected items to the food bank in their local community. The donations will now benefit people living in poverty in Germany.
In previous years, REWE itself donated food worth 200,000 euros in addition to the results of the campaign. Due to the current situation of the food banks, we decided to increase the additional donation by a further 50,000 euros this year.
"The situation at the food banks is still very tense. Demand is so high that the food donations are no longer enough for all those who request support from the food banks, and there are admission freezes and waiting lists. This makes measures such as the REWE food bank bag campaign all the more important. They offer uncomplicated direct help with long-life food for people who lack the most basic necessities. We would like to thank the customers of REWE and nahkauf as well as REWE Group for this important support," says Andreas Steppuhn, Chairman of Tafel Deutschland e.V.
"The Tafel has been around for 30 years now. And REWE has been one of its earliest and biggest supporters ever since. Without campaigns like ours, the food banks would hardly be able to fulfil their mission. Their work cannot be valued highly enough in times of increasing social division. I am therefore very pleased with the high level of donations once again, which proves that our customers' solidarity with the Tafel guests is unbroken," says our Management Board member Peter Maly with conviction.
Businessman Ulrich Pebler from Nassau with Marion Moll, Diakonisches Werk Rhein-Lahn and Tafel coordinator, and Member of Parliament Manuel Liguori (SPD) (from left)
During the campaign, store employees provided paper bags with long-life food that customers could buy and hand in at a designated collection point. Alternatively, there was the option of dropping Tafel donation cards worth €5 each into a donation box at the checkout. The donations automatically recorded by the checkout system were converted into the corresponding quantities of food at the end of the campaign weeks.
in 2011, REWE initiated an additional donation campaign for the food banks for the first time. The commitment, which has been continued annually since then, supplements the permanent donation of food by stores and warehouses that can no longer be sold but can be consumed safely. Further information can be found at www.rewe.de/tafel.