Falkirk shoppers persuade Asda to drop changes

Asda has had a re-think on its charity plans

Both were under threat after bosses reviewed the company’s community programme policy and decided to make changes.

They included having food bank volunteers contact Asda Community Champions to arrange to come in at certain times and explain to shoppers where their donations are going.

It said dropping the token idea would make it “fair and consistent” for all the charities and good causes it welcomes to its stores.

Now however Asda has listened to its customers and dropped both ideas.

A spokesperson said: “Our review indicated having volunteers on hand to talk to customers would increase the amount of donations received and also help charities to reach out to customers over and above providing a donation.

“As a retailer committed to supporting our communities we never intended to stop food banks or similar local charities collecting in our stores.

“We made some changes to our community programme around unmanned collections in the belief that this would benefit the many local good causes who collect in our stores.

“On this occasion our customers and colleagues have told us they understand our intentions, but prefer us to continue to give charities more options to maximise donations. We are, therefore, reinstating unmanned collection points.

“Asda plays an important role in the communities we serve and we look forward to continuing to support many more local charities and good causes. Some of the fantastic work our community colleagues support includes:

* in store unmanned collection points;

* volunteer-led in-store fundraising events;

* ‘Chosen by You’ green token scheme;

* dedicated colleagues who volunteer in their local communities.

Asda also confirmed it will invest an extra £2 million into local good causes through its Asda Foundation.

Alastair Blackstock, chairman of Falkirk Foodbank, said: “We were concerned about one day collections provided they were manned by foodbank personnel and Asda staff and the fact the green token system used for collections for local groups and good projects was also going to cease to exist.

“We were worried shoppers who use Asda and donated to the food bank would go to other supermarkets. It’s good news Asda has taken this decision.”