- £100,000 will support free school meals and kids’ food clubs across the UK
- Donation to be split equally between Feeding Britain and The Bread and Butter Thing to get more vital support to children during these difficult times
- Inflation-busting prices: Tu Clothing is also freezing its school uniform prices to help ease some of the pressure on families this September
The back-to-school period can be a difficult time for families facing increased costs of living. To help those most impacted, Tu is donating £100,000 from sales of school uniform to its longstanding charity partner Comic Relief to support free school meals and kids’ food clubs across the UK.
Tu Clothing has also committed to holding its uniform prices from last year, battling inflation and helping support families shopping for the back-to-school season.
Comic Relief will split the £100,000 donation evenly between two of its key projects - Feeding Britain, an award-winning charity with a vision of a UK where no one goes hungry, and The Bread and Butter Thing, whose aim is to provide affordable food to the UK’s most deprived communities.
Emma Benjafield, Director of Product at Sainsbury’s Clothing, said: “We know life is tough for many of our customers who are facing increased costs of living, so we want to do everything we can to support families who need support now more than ever. The Bread and Butter Thing and Feeding Britain are making a huge difference to local communities, especially during the back-to-school period when family finances can be really stretched, and we hope our donation will help them continue their incredible work.
“To support families battling inflation, we won’t increase Tu’s school uniform prices this year and we hope this, along with our 150-day guarantee, will give parents peace of mind when shopping with us this back-to-school season.”
Feeding Britain will use the funding to boost nutritious food supplies for Affordable Food Clubs across five areas of its UK network during the back-to-school period. The initiative aims to support 2,500 families throughout the first school term (September-December 2023) with the hope of helping them to stretch their budgets a little further.
The Bread and Butter Thing (TBBT) will put the donation towards extending its support for families in its newest areas of operation with the opening of two new school-based food clubs in the Midlands. TBBT specifically sites its work in areas of high deprivation including places that are identified as having above average levels of free school meals in usage. The funding will also help to sustain the projects long term.
Andrew Forsey, National Director of Feeding Britain, said: “'The return to school is often such an expensive time of year for families. This drives an increase in the need for help from food clubs. But with basic living costs being as high as they are, even before those additional items like new uniforms are taken into account, we are bracing ourselves for an even busier autumn than usual. That is why this incredibly generous donation is so timely and important. It will make an almighty difference to the families we serve.”
Mark Game, CEO, The Bread and Butter Thing, said: "I'm delighted to be able to extend our affordable food clubs into new school communities so that local parents and carers can stretch their budgets further whilst also feeding their families nutritious, healthy food. Back-to-school is always an expensive time, so this funding from Tu will make an enormous difference to the families that use TBBT."
Samir Patel, CEO of Comic Relief, said: ‘’This donation from Tu has come at a crucial time as more families than ever are turning to foodbanks for support and millions of children are living in poverty across the UK. Thanks to Tu’s generous support of our Nourish the Nation programme, more children will be able to join food clubs when they return to school and more families will be able to access affordable and nutritious food across the country. This will make a real difference for people facing the toughest times of their lives right now.”
For the full Tu Clothing school uniform offering, please visit Tu.co.uk, Argos.co.uk and selected Sainsbury’s stores.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
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For further information please contact: nadia.sarwar@alfredlondon.com
About Sainsbury’s Nourish the Nation
Working in partnership with Comic Relief, last year Sainsbury’s launched its long-term Nourish the Nation programme to help tackle food poverty and ensure communities have improved access to balanced and nutritional food now and in the future. The programme currently supports organisations such as Feeding Britain and The Bread and Butter Thing in their work to help alleviate food poverty in communities across the country. These projects provide immediate relief but also help to address some of the root causes of food poverty by creating safe community spaces to learn to cook as well as providing the financial, employment and mental health advice to those who need it most.
About Tu
Tu has been inspiring fashion confidence since its launch in 2004, offering design-led, excellent quality and great value fashion across womenswear, menswear and childrenswear.
The sixth largest clothing retailer in the UK by volume, Tu helps customers fulfil their clothing missions everyday by offering everything from a broad range of lingerie, lounge and nightwear, the latest denim fits alongside key fashion pieces, everyday essentials, and school wear. Tu also offers a range of specialist sizes with its own brand Petites and Maternity offers, as well as working with selected partners to keeps the whole family’s wardrobe updated with fashion that makes you feel good.
Tu is aware of its impact on the world around it and has stretching sustainability targets to achieve, from key raw materials usage to greater transparency in its supply chain – all measured using the Higg Index.
Tu clothing is available to buy online at Tu and Argos as well as in 400 selected Sainsbury’s stores.
About Comic Relief
Comic Relief uses the power of humour and popular culture to engage people to help others and raises money to support organisations working towards a just world free from poverty. Our mission combines Comic and Relief - we believe that helping others can be easy and fun, even in the face of the challenges we face every day.
Everyone should be able to have a decent standard of living and to live life with dignity and respect – but right now, in the UK and around the world, poverty and injustice restrict too many of us.
We know that a better world is possible. We provide funding to fantastic organisations who are closest to the communities who can make change happen. We support work that will help to alleviate poverty’s consequences, tackle related injustices, and address the link between climate change and poverty.
For information about Comic Relief and the work it carries out, please visit www.comicrelief.com or follow @ComicRelief on social media for the latest content, news and information. Comic Relief is the operating name of Charity Projects, registered charity in England & Wales (326568) and Scotland (SC039730).