Unilever, DIA and the Spanish Red Cross team up to provide 10.000 meals for vulnerable children in Spain due to the current Covid-19 situation

Madrid, 7 April 2021. Nearly 2 million children go hungry in Spain, a situation that has worsened in the last year due to the economic consequences of the pandemic. Against this backdrop, Unilever, DIA and the Red Cross are promoting the “Tu Compra Ayuda” initiative to distribute 10,000 meals to vulnerable children in Spain through the Red Cross RESPONDE Plan against Covid-19.

From 7 to 27 April, consumers of brands such as Knorr, Rexona, Dove, Hellmann’s and Mimosín will be able to purchase their favourite products at discounted prices at DIA’s 2,800 shops nationwide. For every Unilever product that consumers add to their shopping basket at DIA, both companies will contribute to the donation of meals, via dining room grants, for vulnerable children throughout Spain

Unilever Spain’s Communications and Sustainability Director, Ana Palencia, underlines “the importance of joining synergies between manufacturers, distributors and the third sector due to the current health and economic situation that affects many families on a daily basis. At Unilever, we see it as essential that our purpose-driven brands go one step further and promote solidarity initiatives involving consumers with organisations such as the Red Cross”.

“In line with the core activity of our business, food distribution, at DIA we have set out to work to reduce the food gap among the most vulnerable groups. In this context, we wanted to activate the “Tu Compra ayuda” programme in DIA’s more than 2,800 shops in Spain. This initiative, in which we collaborate with our partners Unilever and the Red Cross, aims to offer direct help to the families most affected by the COVID crisis and to visualise the problem of child poverty, which affects 1 in 3 children in our country”, explained Santiago Martínez Lage, Corporate Director of the DIA GROUP.

For the Red Cross Brand and Communication Director, Belén Viloria, “alliances are our natural way of working. We join forces, seek synergies and build together with companies, organisations, administration, citizens and society in general to maximise our real impact on society and generate real systemic changes, hence the importance of this new alliance in favour of a group as vulnerable to the consequences of the pandemic as children”.

Red Cross’ most ambitious campaign

The solidarity initiative is part of the Red Cross Responds to Covid-19 Plan, a campaign launched after the arrival of COVID-19, which has already helped, protected and cared for more than 3,800,000 people, including children and adolescents. 3,800,000 people, more than 63% of whom are women, through 20 million responses to society in a single year.

The initiative is the largest mobilisation of resources, capacities and people in the history of the Red Cross.

A plan that involves a comprehensive response to society in all its areas of action; emergencies, social inclusion, health, education, employment and environment through more than 66,000 volunteers who have joined specifically to this plan, and that in this year 2021 is putting the focus on alleviating the consequences of the current socio-economic and employment crisis.

About Unilever

Unilever is one of the world’s leading food, home care and personal care companies with a presence in more than 190 countries, reaching 2.5 billion consumers every day. It has 149,000 employees and generated sales of €50.7 billion in 2020. More than half of the impact of its business benefits markets in emerging and developing countries. Unilever owns more than 400 brands, present in homes around the world, including iconic brands such as Dove, Lifebuoy, Knorr and Magnum, as well as new brands such as Love Beauty & Planet, Seventh Generation and The Vegetarian Butcher.

We aim to be a global leader in sustainable business, demonstrating how our forward-looking, purpose-driven model leads to further growth. We have a long corporate tradition of responsibility and progress, dating back to the time when our founder, William Lever, launched the world’s first purpose-driven brand, Sunlight Soap, over 100 years ago. This is still the way we work today.

Unilever Compass, our sustainable business strategy, is put in place to help us drive sustainable and responsible growth, while:

• Improves the health of the planet.
• Improves people’s health, confidence and wellbeing.
• Contributes to a fairer and more socially inclusive world.

Although there is still much to do, we are proud to have been recognised in 2020 as a sector leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and – for the tenth consecutive year – as the leading company in the 2020 GlobeScan/SustainAbility Sustainability Leaders survey.

For more information about Unilever and its brands, please visit http://www.unilever.es

Cada DIA más cerca

Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación is a leading network of neighbourhood supermarkets, with close to 6,200 own stores and franchises in Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Argentina. 6,200 shops and franchises in Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Argentina. With the commitment of its more than 39,000 employees worldwide and its mainly local suppliers, DIA offers the best offer and the best service to its more than 20 million customers.

The company sees sustainability as the only way to ensure the creation of value for all its stakeholders and for its brand. By adopting a proactive listening attitude in the face of social and environmental challenges, it is developing key capabilities within the organisation to ensure future competitiveness.

As part of its sustainable vision, DIA is committed to making quality food accessible to all. It works to provide quality food for all families who choose it, regardless of their location or budget.

About Cruz Roja

The Red Cross is the world’s largest independent, citizen-driven humanitarian movement, working with public and private entities for 156 years to bring humanity and dignity to all people everywhere, at all times and in all circumstances. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the Red Cross is acting in all the affected countries of the world, representing the largest mobilization of resources, capacities and people in its history in favour of the most vulnerable people and the general population.
In Spain, the Red Cross has more than 250,000 volunteers and more than 1,400 points of care throughout the country, which annually assist more than 4 million people nationwide, of which more than 1.7 million are assisted through social programmes, with the support of +1,360,000 members, companies and allies.

The Spanish Red Cross belongs to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, present in 192 countries, always acting under its seven fundamental and unalterable principles: Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary nature, Unity and Universality.