Foodbank Rus and X5 Group summed up the results of retail food sharing and the Basket of Kindness charity project for 2023: over 926 tons of food and non-food products were donated to people in need that year. Over 465 thousand people received free aid, which is almost 2.3 times more than that in 2022.
Over 374 thousand people received aid thanks to the Basket of Kindness project, including single elderly people, those with disabilities, and families with children who found themselves in difficult situations. Finally, 879.3 tons of food were collected as part of the charity collections held in the company’s stores, on the website корзинадоброты.рф, as well as through X5’s own shipments and the Pyaterochka and Perekrestok retail chains.
Basket of Kindness largely expanded its geographical footprint in 2023: charity events were held in Pyaterochka and Perekrestok stores in 234 cities and towns in Russia to collect 737.5 tons of food. About 17.7 tons of food were purchased using funds donated by charity givers through the website, and another 124.1 tons were donated by X5 from its own funds.
Over 586 thousand customers of X5 retail chains became charity givers and participated in food collections for the benefit of people in difficult situations. Over 45 thousand volunteers of Foodbank Rus and 1,866 employees of retail chains participated in arranging charity events and marathons. Basket of Kindness has been providing aid to both people and animals for several years now: over 14.2 tons of feed for 5,000 dogs and more than 1,500 cats from 17 shelters in different cities of Russia were collected in 2023.
Over 92 thousand people received aid in 2023 as part of retail food sharing. They received over 46 tons of usable food and non-food products with an unexpired shelf life. Over 5,000 volunteers of Foodbank Rus distributed these goods among beneficiaries from 10 cities of Russia.
Retail food sharing with X5 Group currently covers Moscow, St. Petersburg, Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ryazan, Izhevsk, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Voronezh, and Tomsk. 57 Pyaterochka and Perekrestok stores and two dark stores are connected to the project.
Anna Alieva-Hrustalyova, Vice President of the Charity Foundation Foodbank Rus and Chief Editor of the media project About Food Sharing: “Volunteers love participating in the Basket of Kindness. Some learn to fight their fear of meeting new people during the campaign, others are happy to see their results. Anyway, the effect is seen after just one shift: you notice how much food has been collected, how many people stopped by and helped others in need. Cooperation with a large network like X5 Group is very important for the entire charity sector and allows us to do good deeds and make a difference anywhere in our huge country.”
Galina Sekirinskaya, Head of Corporate Brand and CSR Department, X5 Group: “Results of 2023 are impressive and inspiring. We see that people are ready to help and do good deeds, which makes our society stronger and kinder. I would like to express special gratitude to store employees who have become key participants in food sharing and the Basket of Kindness project and are actively involved in their development together with volunteers from partner funds. Their efforts and support of our customers enable us both help people in need and spread the culture of charity in society. It must be noted that Basket of Kindness makes charity simple and accessible, demonstrating that everyone can help. We are happy to see the geography of X5 Group’s charity projects constantly expanding, and the opportunity to receive aid is becoming available to everyone in need.”