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Last week, online supermarket Ocado donated a refrigerated delivery van to their food bank charity partner in Hemel Hempstead as part of a new project to help them to receive fresh food.

The van has been purchased by the Ocado Foundation and will be donated this week to food bank charity DENS (Dacorum Emergy Night Shelter), which provides food and shelter to thousands of homeless and vulnerable individuals each week. The Ocado Foundation previously donated two vans to EdibleLinks in North Warwickshire last month, and plans to donate others over the coming months, including one to FEED in St Albans.

The introduction of a refrigerated van means the food bank will be able to receive fresh food, rather than being limited solely to tinned and non-perishable produce, which is often what gets donated by customers in collection bins.

Suzanne Westlake, Head of Corporate Responsibility at Ocado, comments: “We wanted to find a long term, sustainable solution to the problem of wasted food in order to help reduce the large quantity that is thrown away in the UK, while providing a variety of fresh and ambient products to a worthy cause.

“We have been donating food as part of the “Donate Food with Ocado” offering since December 2014, and building on that, we then began donating customer-cancelled orders (including fresh food with products with long sell by dates) straight to our food bank partners. Because we are committed to tackling this important issue, we believe by donating this refrigerated van we can help anyone and everyone in the Hemel Hempstead area benefit from nutritious and delicious meals.”

Wendy Lewington, CEO of DENS, comments: “We have been partnered with Ocado for over a decade now and in this time they have helped to ensure we have ample produce to distribute across the community. We are extremely grateful to Ocado for the donation of a refrigerated food van and we know just how much of a difference it will make for our new outreach programme, ensuring we can distribute fresh food to those who need it most.”

Ocado launched its Donate Food with Ocado scheme in December 2014, which allows customers to add a specified amount – £2.50, £5 or £10 – to their online trolley as a donation towards groceries for food banks, which Ocado will then match. Since the scheme launched three years ago, Ocado has donated over 383 tonnes of food to food banks across the country.

Contact information

Samantha Harris -Samantha.harris@creation.io / 0207 067 0767

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Ocado donates refrigerated delivery van to Hemel Hempstead food bank