Amazon donates £500,000 to The Felix Project to fund new South London depot

London’s biggest food redistribution charity, The Felix Project, is scaling up its operations across South London, as demand for its services continues to soar. Later this year, the charity will open a new, larger depot in Deptford with a £500,000 donation from Amazon over five years to fund the rent, utilities, and the recruitment of volunteers to work alongside the warehouse team.

Amazon supports The Felix Project’s mission to prevent food waste and hunger. Since 2020, Amazon has provided over 10 million meals to The Felix Project through its Amazon Fresh stores and depots. Amazon also helps the charity to transport food donations across London every week through its pro-bono logistics programme, Amazon Local Good.

The Felix Project delivers free, fresh surplus food weekly to those in need through more than 1,000 community organisations and primary schools. But with charity partners requesting more, and over 650 charities on the waiting list, the new 11,900 sq. ft depot is critical. It will increase storage capacity by 25%, helping The Felix Project meet increasing levels of food insecurity across London, with the charity expecting to deliver more than 35 million meals in 2024. According to research conducted by The Felix Project late last year, 1 in 4 working parents in London regularly struggle to afford to feed their families and are having to turn to food support services as a result.

Charlotte Hill OBE, CEO of The Felix Project, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to Amazon for their regular support across so many areas of our work. They provide us with meals, volunteers in our depots, vans and delivery drivers to redistribute food and prevent the most vulnerable from going hungry. With this additional cash donation, we’ll be able to grow our operations in South London, take organisations off our waiting list, and provide nutritious surplus food to those that need it most.”

John Boumphrey, UK country manager, Amazon added: “We’re proud to support the fantastic work The Felix Project does to fight food waste and hunger across London. Our partnership is a great example of how we work with charity partners to use Amazon’s skills and resources to support disadvantaged communities across the UK, and we look forward to working closely together in 2024, and beyond.”

Amazon began donating surplus, quality food to The Felix Project through its Amazon Fresh depots in 2020 and has now donated over 10 million meals. In late 2023, Amazon also hosted a food donation drive where customers were able to purchase a selection of ambient grocery items on amazon.co.uk to be donated directly to The Felix Project.

Amazon also supports The Felix Project every week through Amazon Local Good, a community programme that donates transportation routes to local charities—since 2022, Amazon’s network of Delivery Service Providers and their drivers have rescued and redistributed over 3.5 million meals to community groups across London, including foodbanks, homeless shelters, domestic violence refuges, and primary schools. Employees from across Amazon also regularly volunteer in The Felix Project’s depots.

Amazon’s support for The Felix Project is part of the company’s broader commitment to driving a circular economy, fighting food insecurity, and supporting the communities in which it operates. In 2023, Amazon facilitated the donation of more than 13 million products to more than 2,000 charities and volunteer organisations across the UK, including British Heart Foundation, Barnardo’s and In Kind Direct.

Last year, Amazon also expanded its Multibank initiative, created in partnership with former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, which provides surplus essentials like nappies, toilet rolls, toothpaste and school uniforms donated by businesses, directly to those in need and in doing so, help to reduce waste. The Multibanks in Fife and Wigan have donated over 2 million essential goods to more than 200,000 families in need and will expand to four more sites nationwide this year, supporting more than 500,000 families experiencing poverty.

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