Coca-Cola is supporting the most vulnerable at Christmas
The Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications at Coca-Cola European Partners and the CEO of FareShare join forces to write about their collaboration this Christmas to raise support for those who need it most.
More than 8.4 million people in the UK – the equivalent of the entire population of London – are currently struggling to afford to eat, however every year at least 270,000 tonnes of surplus food from the UK food and drink industry could be redistributed to feed those most in need. That’s enough for 650 million meals.
As winter starts to close in ahead of Christmas, these figures stand quite starkly against the festivities and celebrations that begin to fill calendars. We know Coca-Cola plays a special role for many households during the festive period with the ‘Holidays are Coming’ TV advert marking the official Christmas countdown for many. We recognise the importance and opportunity in using the iconic heritage of Coca-Cola at Christmas to help raise support for those who need it most.
This year we are proud to partner together and launch a special ‘Snap to Donate’ on-pack promotion. The promotion runs across all 500ml Coca-Cola bottles and 1.25L bottles of Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and Diet Coke from now until the end of December. We know everyone’s busy at Christmas, but taking part is simple. You can ‘Donate a Meal to Someone in Need’ by simply taking a picture of the FareShare logo on the bottle and uploading it to cocacola.co.uk/donate. Each uploaded photograph will trigger a 25p donation from Coca-Cola, enabling FareShare to provide a frontline charity, such as a homeless shelter or older person’s lunch club, with enough food to serve one nutritious meal to someone in need. We would encourage you to show your support by taking part in the campaign this Christmas, as we will be doing.
It’s not just at Christmas that Coca-Cola European Partners supports FareShare. We’ve been working together since 2014 to redistribute surplus drinks to people in need and yesterday at the annual Coca-Cola Christmas Parliamentary Reception, we both spoke to this very theme. To date Coca-Cola have provided over £200,000 worth of surplus drinks to FareShare which have been redistributed to frontline charities and community groups across the UK alongside a wide range of mostly fresh produce. FareShare help turn an environmental problem into a social solution, a priority we know is high on the agenda for Parliament.
As a leading manufacturer in Great Britain, Coca-Cola European Partners plays an important role in the communities where it operates across the country. Together we are therefore excited to extend this work and evolve our partnership through the launch of a new promotional on-pack initiative this Christmas, to donate meals to people in need.
It was fantastic to see so many familiar faces at the Parliamentary Reception. FareShare works because of the support and goodwill of volunteers, partners and contacts within the food industry. If you’d like to find out more about FareShare and its work over the festive period please visit the website. Happy Holidays!
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