Cancelled Cape Town Marathon leads Woolworths to donate food surplus

Image supplied

When the cancellation of the Cape Town Marathon was announced at 4:45am on Sunday morning, the Woolworths team sprang into action to ensure the fresh produce did not go to waste. By 10am, all available food had been collected by 18 charities to be distributed to those who needed it most.

Woolworths had organised approximately 26,000 bananas, 20,000 Clemengolds, 280kg of potatoes, 10kg of dried fruit, 5,000 apples, 4,800 dates, 1,800 sandwiches and 600 hot cross buns to be given to runners on the day. Of course, all the fruit, snacks and meals were the same Woolworths Exceptional Quality customers expect when buying from a Woolworths store.

PR & Communications

Crisis communications: Lessons from the Cape Town Marathon

Regine le Roux  10 hours

Because the event was cancelled, instead of runners being fuelled by top quality fresh produce, charities in Cape Town were able to feed communities – and no food went to waste!

Spencer Sonn, chief customer officer at Woolworths and avid runner said: “I had planned to be at the Woolies nutrition point at the halfway mark to support the athletes, and in particular the many Woolies employees running this year. Naturally, I too was disappointed to hear it had been cancelled because I know how hard all the runners trained and the dedication each of them had shown. The silver lining, thankfully, was that orphanages, old age homes and soup kitchens across our city were able to benefit from wholesome, nutritious food. That’s truly the Woolworths Difference in action!”

Core to the Woolworths business is its Good Business Journey, ensuring sustainability and upliftment across the value chain. Last year alone, Woolworths donated over 800 000kgs of surplus food to South African charities – in line with their vision to be one of the world’s most responsible retailers.