X5 Retail Group and Foodbankrus have announced the results of the Basket of Kindness, their joint charity project, for 2019. This year, the Company's stores collected 173 tonnes of food to support people in need, virtually twice the amount collected in 2018.

The donations were enough to prepare a total of 28,800 food sets for 19,200 multi-child families, as well as for seniors living alone and those with financial need. This year, 69,000 customers and more than 1,500 Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, and Karusel stores across 45 cities in Russia took part in the project. In addition, 1,500 volunteers from Foodbankrus and more than 400 X5 employees took part in charitable events and food marathons.

2019 has witnessed four Basket of Kindness citywide food marathons held in all X5 stores in Rostov-on-Don, Novosibirsk, and two times in Moscow. For the second time in two years, basketofkindness.rf (корзинадоброты.рф) also hosted an online marathon for a duration of two months to collect food for seniors living in the countryside of the Samara Region. Together the five events helped to raise about 80 tonnes of food donations. Last year, similar charitable events were held in Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow, with volunteers collecting some 65 tonnes of food.

X5 Retail Group and Foodbankrus launched the Basket of Kindness in 2015. X5 pioneered the food drive in Russia, creating and promoting local food aid infrastructure that allows customers to donate food in-store to support people in need. In addition, the Company operates its charity store basketofkindness.rf, which has had more than 100,000 visitors since its opening in 2017. The site has helped to attract individuals willing to support the cause, with almost every third visitor making a donation.