Lidl donates Christmas dinners to charities and shoppers are getting all the feels
LIDL is donating Christmas dinners to charities across the UK, in a bid to tackle loneliness and isolation during the festive period.
The supermarket has partnered with 131 local charities and community groups to provide the festive food items to those in need.
It has said the donations will include 282 turkeys, 4,700 pigs in blankets, 131 tubs of gravy granules, 26kg of cranberry sauce, 655kg of potatoes and 65kg of Brussels sprouts - which it's said will be equivalent to 3,000 Christmas dinners.
Christmas can be a difficult time for many, so Lidl is working with homeless kitchens as well as elderly social groups to bring communities together.
Shoppers have applauded Lidl for the charitable gesture, for example one Twitter user commented: "Thank you for this, my children and family centre are partnered with Sydenham branch and since we started in September we have managed to support 120 families".
Meanwhile a Facebook user called Jackie said: "Terrific gesture. I have spent a few Christmas days alone. I have no idea why this one day brings such loneliness to people but it does."
Another Facebook user called Ian commented: "Well played Lidl"
And Christine thinks the scheme would work well in her local community.
Mark Newbold, manager at Lidl, said: “It’s incredibly heartening to hear about all of the good causes that our food surplus goes towards through our national food redistribution programme.
"But we know that the Christmas period in particular can be a very difficult time for many people suffering from loneliness.
"This is why we wanted to give a bit extra to the communities and projects that our store teams support throughout the year, helping to bring people together.”
Lidl already donates surplus food from its stores all year round with its redistribution programme, so the donations will help charities put together an extra special Christmas dinner this year.
It's also running special events on Boxing Day and New Year's Day where it'll be serving meals to homeless and vulnerable people in the city of York.
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Foodbanks are facing increasing pressure this Christmas, with Universal Credit driving more Brits to seek out help this time of year.
The Trussell Trust, who run foodbanks across the UK, has said volunteers are gearing up to give away 1.5million meals to hungry families this Christmas.
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