Raben managed a record five thousand kilometres to get the donated food to the needy

Dáša’s husband left her overnight, leaving her to fend for three little children.  Suddenly, she found herself in a situation where she had to pay the rent and other things and feed the family, with her only income being her maternity leave pay. For more than a month, she did not have enough money for even the most basic needs. Social workers advised her to use the nearest non-profit organization, which is the Regional Charity in Uherský Brod, until such time as the state approved regular welfare. Dagmar and her children received donated food several times and her children’s school lunches were paid for. Dáša did not give up.  She found a part time job, which in time became full-time permanent employment. They coped with the crisis.

“After some time, Dáša knocked at our door again. This time, she was offering help. She donated, from the little they now have, a beautiful gift to our school supplies collection, and she keeps helping… And that is just wonderful!” František Bílek, the deputy director of the Regional Charity in Uherský Brod, concludes one of the stories showing how food from the National Food Collection helped.  

“Before we got involved in the collection three years ago, we did not realize, when we went on our lunch break, that for some people even just pasta with ketchup is precious. That there are people who cannot buy their children sweets even once a month, and who even think hard before buying even a packet of the most ordinary biscuits. Nowadays, it is different,” says the marketing and PR specialist of Raben for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Martina Netuhová.

“By our involvement, we want to show how important logistics and transportation can be and how it can help the needy. We live in affluent times, though often we do not admit it. Therefore we gladly take the opportunity to participate in a collection that points out this fact and at the same time allows us to help people in need," says Jakub Trnka, the managing director  of Raben Logistics Czech and Raben Logistics

Slovakia, elaborating the reason for the company’s involvement. 750 shops (395 chain stores and 355 chemist’s) participated in the fifth year of the National Food Collection, for which Raben Logistics Czech is the exclusive transport partner. The project was joined by Tesco, Globus, Penny Market, Kaufland, Albert, Lidl, BILLA, Makro, dm drogerie markt and ROSSMANN. It makes 90 more shops than were involved in 2016. Last year, the collection yielded 312 tonnes of goods, of which 4.6 tonnes were hygiene products. The recent IPSOS survey showed that three quarters of respondents know this collection project, and the number of those actively participating in it is growing rapidly. This year, people donated food with a value of between 100 and 249 Czech crowns. And reality far surpassed the survey. 370.4 tonnes of non-perishable food and 41.5 tonnes of hygiene products were provided. It has yielded a record 926,000 meals (139,000 portions more than the previous year), which before Christmas will help the households of seniors, one-parent families and families in financial crisis, and asylum homes – in short, people in need. Raben also broke records to get not only biscuits, but also pasta, flour, pulses, tins, sugar, tea and many other basic food-stuffs to people in need. For mothers in asylum homes, homeless people, many senior citizens and handicapped people, food banks are often the only place they can turn to when not a crown is left in their wallet.

”I am really pleased that nappies and baby food were also donated this year, so that the little ones do not have to suffer want and hardship," adds Martina Netuhová. 

In 2015, 14 drivers drove 2,193 km and transported 26 tonnes (out of a total of 236 tonnes) of food from 44 supermarkets to people in need. Last year, 24 drivers took part in the collection, transporting 48.3 tonnes of donated food (out of a total 300 tonnes) from 72 shops across the Czech Republic and driving 3,989 km altogether. This year, Raben transported donated food and hygiene products from 77 shops in nine regions, where 32 drivers rode 4,816 km.  

“We transported over 66 tonnes of food to food banks. And I can say that we were not concerned with the weather, the state of the roads or the fact that that Saturday seemed endless and many Raben employees lost their well-deserved day off. The only thing we cared about was adding a few lines to the positive stories of other people who found themselves in need. To put it simply, those who were not so lucky, those who found themselves in a difficult situation and those for whom we could possibly make the upcoming holidays a bit more pleasant with good quality food,” Netuhová concludes.

The collection was organized by the platform Business for Society in cooperation with the Czech Federation of Food Banks, the NADĚJE organization, the Salvation Army and Charity Czech Republic. Many non-profit organizations and 4,300 volunteers also took part in the project.