Together with its customers, Coles has raised more than $1.8 million for the Australian Red Cross QLD and NSW Flood Appeal to provide immediate and long-term support to communities affected by severe flooding.
As flood waters subsided and affected residents began the enormous task of cleaning up, Coles donated and delivered a truckload of cleaning and cooking equipment to the Lismore community this week.
In total, Coles has now donated and delivered well over 100 pallets of food and essentials to Lismore, North Richmond and the Northern Rivers region in the past 10 days to urgently get supplies in the hands of impacted locals.
In just two weeks, Coles customers donated $560,257 which was matched dollar for dollar by Coles Group for the Australian Red Cross QLD and NSW Flood Appeal.
Coles then increased its support on the weekend by announcing an additional donation of $700,000 at the Australia Unites: Red Cross Flood Appeal on Channel Nine, Seven Network and Network 10, which raised more than $25 million for flood-affected communities.
Australian Red Cross CEO Kym Pfitzner thanked Coles, its team members and customers for their support.
“The way Coles, its team and customers pulled together to help support people impacted by the devastating floods is an amazing example of what can be achieved in times of crisis,” he said.
“Coles has made an incredible contribution and their support will help Red Cross to provide assistance to the people and communities that are struggling, through our immediate response in relief centres and recovery hubs, through cash assistance and helping us be there for the long term while people recover.”
Coles NSW State General Manager Ivan Slunjski said customers and team members had shown extraordinary generosity in their support for flood-affected communities through the appeal and donations of essentials.
“The damage caused as a result of the floods has been devastating and we’re doing everything we can to ensure that deliveries to stores continue and donations of supplies are distributed to those who need it most,” he said.
“We are blown away by the generosity of our customers in helping to raise over $1.8 million for the Red Cross Flood Appeal, and we couldn’t be prouder of our store team members who have been involved in on-the-ground efforts to urgently get supplies into local communities.”
Funds raised for the Australian Red Cross Qld and NSW Floods Appeal will go towards supporting volunteers and staff to assist with evacuations and relief centres, enabling longer term recovery work in flood-affected communities and contributing to the ongoing funding of the cash assistance grants program.
During the past two weeks, Coles and its customers have also provided support to flood-affected communities in the following ways:
- Coles team members and customers at Arundel in south-east Queensland donated an estimated $10,000 in food and essentials to impacted communities in Northern NSW, with another delivery of donated supplies arriving this week;
- At Moonee Beach in NSW, the team has already made four trips to the Lismore evacuation centre in a ute filled with clothes, pet food, cleaning goods and non-perishable goods;
- The team at Coles Ballina store has donated breakfast items for the Ballina Richmond Rotary Club breakfast on a daily basis and supplied food for sausage sizzles at the nearby evacuation centres to support flood-affected locals;
- A Coles Online van has delivered 16 cartons of fruit daily over the past week and 60 loaves of bread to Lismore each day over a period of two weeks;
- Coles stores in the Northern NSW region have rallied to fill two utes with food and essentials donated by customers and team members for delivery to the Lismore region;
- Coles team members and customers at The Pines in south-east Queensland have donated an estimated 29 pallets of food and supplies for distribution to impacted communities from Logan down to the Northern Rivers region;
- At Coffs Harbour, the team has collected and driven a truckload of donations to West Ballina to be packed into care packs and distributed to rural areas filled with food, clothing, personal hygiene items and bedding; and
- The North Richmond Coles store has donated around 1000 loaves of bread to Hawkesbury’s Helping Hands to distribute to flood-affected residents.
