Food Bank Friday 2020

Thank you for supporting Food Bank Friday 2020, we will be revealing the total donation to the Newcastle West End Food Bank shortly!

This 'Black Friday' we will be donating an item directly from our stock to the Newcastle West End Foodbank with every order over £30. Plus as an extra incentive to take part we will be giving shoppers 20% off almost everything in store.

*20% off runs from Monday 23rd November until midnight Monday 30th November 2020 - excludes dropship items (those not available for immediate dispatch), delivery services, gift vouchers, hampers, Bambo and Moltex nappies, John Masters, Natracare, Guppyfriend and infant formula. A grocery item as requested by the Foodbank will be donated with every order total over £30 (not including delivery). Free standard UK delivery on orders over £50.

How we're making a difference

Black Friday has been around for many years in the US and was imported over here by Amazon who in 2010 launched a ‘Black Friday’ sale. In 2013 ASDA launched 'Walmart's Black Friday by ASDA' but it wasn’t until the following year that a large number of UK retailers jumped on the bandwagon launching their own campaigns. 2014 is probably the first year most people heard about it when police forces were called to shops across Britain to deal with the crowds and sometimes violent behaviour, as people surged into shops fighting over cut price TVs. Retailers such as Amazon have tried to condition customers into feeling they have to shop on Black Friday, offering reductions (which are actually usually paid for by small Amazon sellers, rather than Amazon themselves) and failing to invest profits back into our economy.

This year has been very different due to the devastating effects of COVID-19. With shops being forced to close due to the national lockdown, Amazon - the retailer who has pushed Black Friday the most - has been cleaning up with rocketing profits, while more and more people are losing their jobs and falling into poverty.

Five years ago we decided to do something different around Black Friday and try to focus attention on a more positive message encouraging people to think of others who are in need rather than rushing out to buy that new TV. We started our Food Bank Friday campaign donating an item directly from our stock with every order over £30. Since then we have donated 18,400 items to the Newcastle West End Food Bank worth over £28,000!

Last year over £10,000 worth of grocery items were donated to the food bank as a result of the Black Friday offer and it is our mission to help raise even more this year! Don't forget you can also make your own donation in the checkout to the Newcastle West End Food Bank or any of our other charity partners.  

You can also donate directly to the Newcastle West End Foodbank either on the website, via SMS text, and also find out about regular giving.

John McCorry, chief executive at Newcastle West End Foodbank, said: “Black Friday is one of the busiest days in the shopping calendar and it’s easy for us to forget the daily struggles that many of us face. The West End of Newcastle is populated with large areas of poverty so we always encourage and welcome any form of support.

“More and more families are being forced to use foodbanks with the number set to rise following the introduction of Universal Credit, a new benefits system, coming into force as many people waiting weeks for their payments adding to other financial pressures."

“It’s fantastic that we can continue our partnership with Ethical Superstore having being chosen as the sole beneficiary for the fourth year. It’s through initiatives and kindness like this from local businesses and our volunteers that we can keep doing what we do.”

By doing this our customers will get the chance to help the Newcastle West End Food bank and also hopefully we’ll encourage people to think about others and perhaps make a donation to their own local food bank to help those in need this Christmas. If just a fraction of the money spent on unnecessary items this Black Friday could go to a better cause, this could make a huge difference to so many people who are struggling in the current tough times.

The Newcastle West End Foodbank - like the almost 2000 food banks in the UK (more than 1,200 supported by the Trussell Trust) - does a wonderful job in helping the people most in need. We recently visited the Newcastle West End Foodbank to see the amazing organic garden they have created. The Newcastle West End Food Bank provides hot meals two days a week, and the freshly grown produce from the organic garden along with donations are used!

Read our blog post to find out more about Newcastle West End Foodbank's organic garden.

What we donate

We have selected the products which will be donated to the Newcastle West End Food Bank based on what they need the most (these products may be changed depending on the demand from the Foodbank at the time we donate them). We will supply a mixture of these products to the Newcastle West End Food Bank