Supermarket giants open donations to flood-affected communities

Coles and Woolworths are giving customers the opportunity to donate to flood-affected regions in NSW and Queensland through their respective charities.

Money raised at Woolworths will go towards The Salvation Army, while Coles has pledged to match customer donations dollar-for-dollar up to $1 million with donations going to the Australian Red Cross QLD and NSW Floods appeal.

Customers can donate across the country at any Coles Supermarket or Coles Express store or any Woolworths Supermarket or Metro stores.

Garry Page, Acting Director of Australian Programs at Red Cross, thanked Coles for supporting the appeal.

“We are witnessing an unprecedented flooding event in NSW and QLD. People have been forced to leave their homes and seek shelter in evacuation centres. Properties have been badly damaged, and a massive clean-up will be required. These floods will have a long-term impact on communities and Australian Red Cross will be there to support them along the way.”

Funds raised through the appeal will help provide immediate and long-term support to the flood affected regions including helping with evacuations, relief centres and outreach services, to supporting people and communities to recover and build resilience to disasters.

Woolworths is a long-time supporter of S.T.A.N.D (Support Through Australian Natural Disasters) and through the program has provided almost $4 million over the past 12 months to its partners The Salvation Army, Foodbank, Rural Aid, and Lifeline.

Brad Banducci, CEO of Woolworths Group, said many of the company’s team members are among those whose homes are flooded and that they’ve seen more than 20 of their supermarket or Big W stores forced to close.

“In times of crisis it is critical that we act quickly and work better together to support those most in need. Through our S.T.A.N.D program, our partners are able to stand-up the moment a natural disaster happens to offer meaningful on-the-ground assistance and support to impacted communities,” said Banducci.

Matt Swindells, Chief Operations Officer at Coles, said the team was passionate about supporting the flood-affected communities.

“These devastating floods have impacted so many of our own team, customers and suppliers so we want to help those doing it tough by opening our check-outs across Australia to take donations and show our support by matching those donations dollar for dollar to the value of $1 million.”

Swindell also wanted to assure customers that as roads open and clean-up begins, they are working hard to replenish shelves as quickly as possible and get essential food items into flood-affected regions.