Credit_Gary Hamill_caption ellie and phil in poplar with crates of felix food 3

Supermarkets will play a key role in supporting food charities this Christmas

Sainsbury’s will donate £3m to help food charities across the UK as the cost of living crisis continues to force increasing numbers of people into poverty.

The supermarket has launched the Nourish the Nation campaign today in partnership with several charities – including Comic Relief, Feeding Britain and The Bread & Butter Thing – to help raise money for families in need this Christmas.

As part of the campaign, which is running between 23 November and 24 December, Sainsbury’s will donate £1.5m to charity as well as encourage customers to donate by matching their donations up to a further £1.5m.

Customers can make donations in store and online at Sainsbury’s, in store at Argos, or by donating Nectar points.

The money raised will be split evenly between supporting communities to have access to food now, and supporting projects that help prevent people and communities falling further into food poverty in the future as a long-term response to the cost of living crisis.

In addition to the Nourish the Nation campaign, Sainsbury’s has already pledged to donate £1.5m to key food distribution networks including FareShare to help families on the breadline this winter.

“With more challenging months ahead, support for those facing food poverty has never been more critical,” said Sainsbury’s director of corporate responsibility and sustainability Ruth Cranston.

“We know how difficult the rising cost of living is for so many communities across the country, which is why we’ve launched our new community programme Nourish the Nation, to help ensure people have access to the food they need right now, whilst also helping to prevent those who are most at risk from facing food insecurity in the future.

“We hope we can go some way in providing relief to vulnerable communities up and down the country over the coming months and beyond.”

FareShare CEO Lindsay Boswell said: “At a time when demand for our food has skyrocketed, this funding will make a huge difference to the people we support experiencing food poverty.”

Sainsbury’s move follows Aldi’s announcement it was donating £250,000 to charities and community groups this Christmas in an emergency winter food bank fund.