Amazon has donated a total of £16,000 to five London charities that positively impact communities across the city, including programmes that help children access education, fight food poverty and have a positive impact on the environment.
The donations were made to Street Child, Whizz Kidz, Thames21, The Felix Project and HandsOn London.
London-based Street Child works in over 20 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe to help children access education. The charity seeks to see all children safe, in school and learning, particularly children in low resource environments. The charity received £4,000.
Whizz Kidz charity creates opportunities for young wheelchair users in London to get the equipment, skills and confidence they need to live as independently as possible. Whizz Kidz received £2,000.
Thames21 is an environmental charity that restores rivers across London and the Thames to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis. The charity also connects communities with their local rivers, inspiring them to look after them over the long term. Amazon donated £4,000 to Thames21.
The Felix Project is London’s largest food redistribution charity, fighting hunger and the impact of food waste, aiming to support the reduction of carbon emissions. Amazon has an ongoing partnership with The Felix Project and has donated more than 10 million meals to the charity from its Amazon Fresh stores. Amazon also provides logistics support to collect and deliver surplus food to community organisations across the Capital. This donation of £2,000 will help the charity deliver even more meals to people in need.
HandsOn London, which received £4,000, aims to make volunteering manageable for everyone, promoting community service as a central aspect of life in London. The organisation partners with other charities to improve green spaces in London through its BrightenUp London campaign, as well as collecting pre-loved warm coats to distribute to charities supporting people through the cold weather in winter through its WrapUp London campaign.
Ben Morris works as a Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Apprentice at Amazon in London, and he nominated Thames21 for the donation. He said:
“Each year, Amazon holds a Global Month of Volunteering, encouraging thousands of Amazon employees from over 50 countries get involved in volunteering opportunities.
“Creating opportunities for people to give back to the planet brings me such joy, and that’s why I decided to collaborate with Thames21 and the Port of London Authority. We organised a team of 55 Amazon employees to travel down to various sections of the Thames foreshore to collect litter, donating more than 100 hours of community volunteering time. I nominated Thames21 to receive this donation because of the portfolio of work it undertakes in restoring and improving London’s rivers and working with communities.”
Chris Coode, CEO of Thames 21 added:
“We would like to say a huge thank you to Amazon for this donation, which will help us to continue to build climate resilience and improve biodiversity by restoring London’s rivers, involving London’s communities in all our work.”
Community donations and employee volunteering are just two of the ways Amazon supports the communities where it operates. Amazon has supported more than 500,000 students across the UK with free computer science and STEM education programmes through Amazon Future Engineer.
Amazon helps community organisations transport meals and other essentials to families in need through its pro bono logistics programme, Amazon Local Good, including more than seven million healthy breakfasts to children at risk of hunger in partnership with Magic Breakfast. And through its Multibank initiative, co-founded with former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Amazon has supported more than 200,000 families experiencing poverty, with the donation of more than 2 million surplus essential goods.
Amazon partners with Comic Relief to help people tackle poverty and is the official home of the charity’s iconic Red Nose. Last year, together with its employees, customers, and partners, Amazon raised over £2.7 million to fund projects that support people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and tackle issues such as homelessness, mental health problems, and food insecurity across the UK, and around the world.
