The owner of a food bank says she was left 'heartbroken' after she was allegedly refused service at a Lidl store yesterday when shopping with over €1,000 in vouchers kindly donated for the homeless.
Ashling Lowe of the Meath Food Bank is, this morning, staging a protest outside the supermarket in Trim to demand a refund for €1,250 worth of gift cards so she can buy food elsewhere for over 125 families in emergency accommodation in the county.
She said she was told by management that she represented a private company and wasn't allowed to bulk buy from the store.
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However, she claims she has spent thousands of euro in vouchers at the store in the last number of years and there has never before been a problem.
The service has helped over 4,000 people over the last six years, including frontline workers and former soldiers who can't make their pensions stretch to cover bills and food.
Ashling and volunteers from the Meath Food Bank recently completed a charity walk from Trim to Dublin and yesterday's gift cards were the result of some of the sponsorship and donations which totalled over €6,500.
"I'm here at Lidl this morning with my bucket full of gift cards and I'm demanding a full refund for them so I can buy food elsewhere," she said
"Three of us came here yesterday with three trolleys and as we approached the till, we were told by management that we were a private company and weren't allowed to buy in bulk there.
"They said we were taking supply from customers. But we are customers.
"Only last Thursday, I was in buying the same amount with gift cards and they had no problem taking my money then. They have had no problem taking the thousands of euro I've spent there over the years to buy for the food bank
"I always ask for donations in vouchers for the main supermarkets and none of the outlets until yesterday have had a problem helping me.
"This food isn't for personal gain. I was buying to make Christmas hampers for the 125 families who have called in need of them in emergency accommodation.
"We have other families who need food week in and week out and there are more calls coming in every day as people struggle to decide to spend their money on bills or food.
"We ended up leaving the trolleys in the middle of the aisle and heading to a competitor who couldn't do enough for us.
"They are gift cards and the gift from us and the people who donated is food for those in need. They didn't honour it and so I'm here this morning and won't be moved until it's resolved. I rang customer service yesterday and am still waiting for them to ring me back.
"It's hard enough running a food bank and listening to devastating stories and trying to find supplies for rising numbers with dwindling donations because of the cost of living each week. I'm heartbroken over this."
Lidl Ireland responded with the following statement: "At Lidl, supporting the communities we operate is a key priority. We have a longstanding partnership with Jigsaw, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health, as well as hundreds of smaller local charity partners in the towns we operate in. To date, we have also donated nearly 4 million meals to local food banks across the country through our partnership with FoodCloud.
"We can confirm that a customer attempted to bulk buy a large amount of products in our Trim store yesterday. We did not have the stock holding in store at the time to facilitate this purchase and allow for enough products for other customers in the community, however, our store employee did offer to put in a dedicated order of the requested stock into our supply chain team and this would be available for this customer to pick up in Lidl Trim within 24 hours. This offer was refused by the customer.
"We would advise that our bulk buying policy is communicated in the attached signage in store. In cases where a charity wants to order a very large quantity of products, we ask them to speak to the Store Manager of that store who can facilitate ordering those quantities in especially for them as outlined above. This is to ensure that our stores have availability of all products on our shelves for other customers."
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