For the third year running, the Foodbanks and the BNP Paribas Fortis Foundation are teaming up to organise the Red Cents initiative. 

From 9 December 2013 through to 24 January 2014 all the BNP Paribas Fortis and Fintro branches in Belgium will be engaged in a widespread drive to collect ‘red cents’.

It has been estimated that 95% of all 1- and 2- eurocent coins in circulation in Belgium are never spent. Meanwhile an increasing number of people living below the poverty line do not have enough to eat on a daily basis. With this in mind, the Foodbanks and the BNP Paribas Fortis Foundation are joining forces for the third time and launching a major operation to collect those little 1-, 2- and 5- cent coins to assist some of the most deprived people in this country.

Our efforts proving increasingly successful – A hot meal costs €3, and since 2011 thousands of meals have been provided as a result of the generosity of our Bank customers, plus passers-by and a number of schools, not forgetting our own staff, whose hearts are touched by the problem of hunger in Belgium.

The first Red Cents drive, in 2011, brought in 1.7 million coins to a value of over €42,000, which provided 14,000 hot meals. In 2012, around €93,000 was raised in this way and 31,000 meals were distributed.

The total sum amassed from the Red Cents collection is put into a dedicated Foundation bank account and the entire amount is donated to Belgium’s Foodbanks, which then provide meals to the neediest families.

Longer collection period – BNP Paribas Fortis and Fintro have mobilised their respective branches – over 1,200 in all – in support of the Red Cents operation. This time a collection box will be in place at every branch for no less than seven weeks, providing ample opportunity for everyone who wishes to support the cause to come and deposit those little red coins.

One check-in = one meal – In addition, users of the foursquare® network will have the chance to ensure an additional contribution. For each ‘check-in’ by a user at BNP Paribas Fortis premises listed on foursquare®, the BNP Paribas Fortis Foundation will donate the equivalent of one meal to the Foodbanks, up to a maximum of 5,000 meals. This is a great opportunity to bring the digital and real worlds together in a good cause.

In addition, a number of our media partners – poster, radio and web specialists – have also expressed their intention to support the initiative. They have agreed to make their channels available at deeply discounted rates, or even free-of-charge.

The basic mission of the Foodbanks is to combat hunger and prevent food wastage in Belgium by collecting, mainly in conjunction with the EU Food Aid Programme but also directly from the food industry and the retail sector, donated foodstuffs which they can use to assist the most deprived people in Belgium.

Watch our 'Lonely Cents' video in French or Dutch.  

For more information on the collection drive: www.centimesrouges.be and www.rodecentjes.be
 

About the Foodbanks

The Belgian Foodbanks Federation is a coordination and logistics body that represents a national network of nine regional Foodbanks, which undertake to distribute foodstuffs among charity organisations.

The mission of the Foodbanks is to provide food aid to the most deprived people. They are assisted in this task by large gifts of foodstuffs from the European Food Aid Programme, and also from the food processing industry, from wholesalers and major retail chains. They also organise periodic collections among the general public. All sums thus collected are channelled into providing the maximum number of free meals to the needy. 

The Foodbanks currently collect and distribute over 14,000 tons of foodstuffs every year to some 120,799 beneficiaries via 624 local charity organisations.