John Lewis and Waitrose to host Christmas dinners for vulnerable people
More than 1,000 vulnerable people across the UK have been invited to enjoy a festive meal hosted by Waitrose & Partners and John Lewis & Partners.
The retailers are working in collaboration with food redistribution charity FareShare which has nominated more than 50 charities to take part.
Over the next two weeks the charities, the people they support and volunteers will come together to enjoy a Christmas dinner served by partners from John Lewis and Waitrose. They will be helped by some famous faces such as sports personality Clare Balding and cricket star Jonathan Agnew.
The dinners will either be hosted in private dining rooms in John Lewis shops or in the local charities’ dining spaces.
Stephen Cawley, head of corporate responsibility at John Lewis & Partners, said: “We approached FareShare because we want to support the vital work that charities do in the communities where we have shops. Our partners across the UK are really enthusiastic about being involved. We want to create special events which bring people together around the table to enjoy a memorable, festive feast, which they might not otherwise have.”
John Lewis and Waitrose are also giving FareShare a £150,000 donation, which is equivalent to providing 600,000 meals, and partners from both retailers have pledged to volunteer at FareShare Regional Centres during the Christmas period.
In addition, Waitrose shops will be donating surplus food to charities at the end of each day through FareShare’s redistribution scheme. The supermarket has donated the equivalent of 1.5 million meals need since 2017 and a further 10,000 meals are expected to be donated next month.
