Co-op regional campaign tackles food poverty at Christmas

A regional retailer is encouraging its shoppers to do one simple thing this Christmas in order for thousands of pounds to be donated to local food banks – scan their membership cards.

Southern Co-op has pledged to donate 10p to its local community food bank partners when its members shop and scan their Southern Co-op membership card in its retail stores in December (a small number of exclusions apply).

It is hoped that thousands of pounds will be raised to help tackle food poverty, which remains a critical issue faced by millions in the UK.

"Food banks provide vital support for our local communities so we really hope this campaign will make a difference to a lot of families,” said Holly Bramble, Community Lead at Southern Co-op.

"All the money raised will be split equally between more than 60 local community food banks we work with. Quite simply, the more members who shop and scan their Southern Co-op membership card, the more we can donate to our food bank partners!"

Southern Co-op has more than 200 Co-operative Food stores across the south of England which can be found via the store finder here.

Through financial donations, goods donations, volunteering and drop off points in 97 retail stores and funeral branches, Southern Co-op colleagues currently support 60 local community food banks.