Fresh & Easy Parent Tesco Donates to Haiti Relief; CEO Leahy Makes Personal Donation

Tesco plc., the United Kingdom-based parent company of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA, has donated £50,000 (pounds) - $81,645 U.S. - to the British Red Cross to assist in the agency's earthquake relief efforts in Haiti, according to Lucy Neville-Rolfe, executive director at Tesco's headquarters in Cheshunt, Herts, England.

"We [Tesco plc] are shocked by the devastation that the earthquake has caused in Haiti. We have made a donation of £50,000 through the British Red Cross who have already arrived in the area. Our donation will help thousands of families who have survived the earthquake with family kits containing vital items such as blankets, tarpaulins and first aid kits. The British Red Cross do outstanding work and it's an honour to work with them in such tragic circumstances," she says.

Mark Astarita, the director of fundraising for the British Red Cross, says: "Tesco are leading the way with their generous and swift donation to our Haiti earthquake appeal. Thanks to them we can immediately send lifesaving relief supplies to the people of Haiti, who have lost everything in the earthquake."

Tesco's donation is part of the emergency partnership between Tesco and the British Red Cross which began in 2000, according to executive director Neville-Rolfe. The British Red Cross was Tesco's charity of the Year in 2007/2008.

Tesco CEO Leahy makes personal donation

In addition to the donation made by Tesco, Britain's The Sun'newspaper is reporting that Tesco plc CEO Terry Leahy has made a personal donation to Haiti relief as part of "The Sun's Helping Haiti" appeal, which the British newspaper kicked off on Friday, January 16.

Tesco CEO Leahy's donation was among those made by a group of British sports stars and celebrities, along with a donation by the The Sun, which raised £250,000 (pounds) - $408, 575 U.S. dollars - on the very first day of the newspaper's fundraising campaign (Friday, January 16), the paper says in a story here.

The amount of Tesco CEO Terry Leahy's personal donation isn't disclosed by the newspaper in its story.

Readers: For a comprehensive and regularly updated list of U.S. food and grocery retailers - and their suppliers - that have donated to Haiti relief efforts see the Natural~Specialty Foods Memo Blog here.