Mercadona donated 780 tons of food and basic necessities to soup kitchens, food banks and other charities in the Canary Islands during 2020. This amount, which is equivalent to 13,000 shopping trolleys, is 63% more than the amount they delivered the previous year, as a result of the health pandemic and economic crisis.
The company is continuing with this work in 2021 and has incorporated three more centres in Tenerife into its distribution network. Now, the Virgen de la Esperanza, Café y Calor Association (Cáritas) and the Regional Assembly of La Laguna, Tegueste and El Rosario (Red Cross) receive food such as fruits and vegetables, dairy, meat, fish, sausages, bread or pasta on a daily basis.
These centres join the Padre Laraña Association, La Milagrosa and the José Luis Montesinos Canarian Foundation, with which the supermarket company already collaborated on the island.
Donations are made first thing in the morning, from Monday to Saturday, thanks to Mercadona's logistical and human resources, which bring food to soup kitchens, food banks and centres with which it collaborates on a daily basis in the Canary Islands, and deliver it in the best conditions for quality and food safety.
In addition to having 15 soup kitchens and centres to which it donates daily in the Canary Islands, the company also collaborates with entities such as Cáritas, the Red Cross, the Municipal Food Bank of Pájara (Fuerteventura), and the Municipal Food Banks of Las Palmas and Tenerife. Mercadona delivered a total of 350 tons of essential products to the last two in 2020, an increase of 700%.
One of the commitments that Mercadona maintains with the community is to return part of what it receives from it. With this objective, the company's Social Responsibility Plan has been developed, which addresses social and ethical components through different sustainable lines of action that reinforces its commitment to shared growth.
Along with donating food, Mercadona collaborates with 32 foundations and occupational centres in the decoration of their stores with ‘trencadís’ murals, made by more than 1,000 people with intellectual disabilities. Another strategic line of the Social Responsibility Plan is sustainability. For this, it has its own Environmental Management System.
