Moscow, 16 March 2016
Stephan DuCharme, Chairman of X5 Retail Group’s Supervisory Board, has been elected to the Board of Trustees of Rus Food Foundation. In this capacity, he will supervise the implementation of the two organisations’ joint initiative Basket of Kindness, and oversee relationships with X5 Retail Group’s major business partners among food producers and suppliers involved in food-bank projects.
In the second half of 2015, X5 Retail Group signed a cooperation agreement with Rus Food Foundation, a nationwide charity organisation providing food aid to socially vulnerable groups across Russia.
From August to December 2015, a pilot Basket of Kindness project at 23 X5 stores in Moscow, St Petersburg, Perm and Tyumen resulted in customers donating more than five tonnes of food to low-income families. The food was collected, packed and given to those in need by 300 in-store volunteers.
Stephan DuCharme’s election to the Foundation’s Board of Trustees marks the beginning of a new phase in relations between X5 Retail Group and this NGO, and underlines the importance to the Group of food-bank projects. Other members of Rus Food’s Board of Trustees include representatives of X5 Retail Group’s major business partners, including producers of food, household chemicals, beauty products and other FMCG.
Х5 Retail Group maintains a strategic focus on benefiting communities in areas where it operates. The Group takes a broad-based approach to this task, with several lines of action.
X5 is continuing to expand the footprint of its retail chains to bring advanced retail services to an ever growing number of Russians.
Secondly, the Group works closely with local and national authorities to develop and implement programmes that increase food availability among socially vulnerable groups, including pensioners, veterans and large families. X5 also provides targeted support to those in need of food.