This marks the extension of Stelios Philanthropic Foundation’s ‘Food From the Heart’ programme from Greece and Cyprus to the UK kickstarted by partnership with Trussell.
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, creator and owner of the easy family of brands (see www.easy.com www.easyHistory.info) and founder and President of the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation (a UK registered charity www.stelios.foundation), is pleased to announce the expansion of the Foundation’s long standing Food From the Heart program from Greece and Cyprus to the UK, kickstarted by a donation worth more than one million pounds at retail value to Trussell (www.trussell.org.uk), a leading anti-poverty charity and community of food banks.
The Stelios Foundation’s Food From the Heart programme has operated since 2013 from 12 distribution points in Cyprus and Greece, giving away for free more than 42 million snacks to date to people in need in the two countries. Now, the programme is being brought to the UK for the first time.
The donation from the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation will support Trussell to provide cans of chilli con carne to food banks across the UK. The food will be distributed via Trussell’s partner Food and Community Trust (FCT), who also run Sheffield S6 Foodbank. FCT supplies food to over 50 of the food banks in the Trussell community across the UK. The cans of chilli con carne will be purchased by the Stelios Foundation from Kiril Mischeff Limited, a leading food and ingredient supplier and can be found using the Rodina brand in many UK supermarkets with a retail price of almost £2 per can of 400 grams. The cans will be donated to Trussell and are cobranded with the three logos; Stelios Foundation, Trussell and Rodina.
Trussell is an anti-poverty charity and community of food banks, operating across all four nations of the UK. The organisation provides emergency food and support to people facing hunger and hardship, and campaigns for change to end the need for food banks in the UK. Its community currently comprises around 420 food bank charities, which operate more than 1,400 food bank locations. The latest research from Trussell shows that 9.3 million people are facing hunger and hardship across the UK, including 3 million children.
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, said: “I am pleased to expand our Food From the Heart programme to the UK and begin our partnership with Trussell to support food banks across the country. The programme has helped the neediest in society in Cyprus and Greece for the last 12 years, and I look forward to working with Trussell to help more people who need this in the UK”.
Emma Revie, Chief Executive of Trussell Trust, said: “We are really grateful to the Stelios Foundation for supporting Trussell and our community of food banks. Food bank teams are working tirelessly to help people unable to afford the essentials and thanks to the generosity of partners like the Stelios Foundation, they can continue to provide vital emergency support in their communities, while we work together to end the need for food banks in the UK. Thank you.”
For further information:
David Cracknell, Lucy Thomas
Tavistock
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7920 3150
easygroup@tavistock.co.uk
Notes to editors
Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is the owner and creator of the easy family of brands. Stelios and easyGroup Ltd (his UK for profit company) has made donations to the Stelios foundation, a UK charity, totalling more 107 million euro since 2010.
