X5 Retail Group, a leading Russian food retailer, and Foodbank Rus announce the results of a citywide Basket of Kindness food drive in Krasnodar for families in need with children. Over 100 Pyaterochka and Perekrestok stores across Krasnodar took part in the food drive on 26 September, collecting some 3.7 tonnes of donations to prepare 627 parcels of food and home care products. This is 25% above what was expected at the outset of the campaign, with the number of recipients growing accordingly.

The parcels have already been sent to 322 families with children. The campaign brought together 280 Foodbank Rus volunteers and over 100 employees of X5. The citywide food drive was supported by the regional Ministry of Labour and Social Development, as well as the children's ombudsman for the Krasnodar territory, and Essity.

X5 Retail Group paid the organisational costs, including infrastructure, PPE for volunteers and other expenses associated with the food drive. On top of that, the Company added some missing items to the parcels to provide each food basket with a full range of essential basic products.

X5 Retail Group and Foodbank Rus launched the Basket of Kindness project in 2015. X5 pioneered food drives among Russian retailers, creating and promoting local food aid infrastructure. This enables customers to buy and donate food in-store to support people in need in their local communities. In 2018, X5 and Foodbank Rus decided to run the Basket of Kindness in the form of citywide food drives. In 2019, four food drives were held across X5 stores in Rostov-on-Don, Novosibirsk and Moscow (twice). The 2019 campaigns yielded a total of 173 tonnes of food products, which is nearly double the 2018 result.

The project also operates an online charity store at корзинадоброты.рф, which this year became a platform to collect food donations during the COVID-19 outbreak. Over four months, the platform received around 53.5 tonnes of food and packed them into 10,000 sets, 1,200 of which were contributed by X5 Retail Group. The donations were distributed to around 9,600 elderly people living alone and to families in need with children in the Lipetsk, Vladimir, Ulyanovsk and Moscow regions, as well as St Petersburg. Currently, корзинадоброты.рф is holding an online food drive for senior citizens who live alone in the Omsk region and need help. Donations are being accepted until 1 October.