Ensuring access to food does not just mean feeding, but restore the right to choose and the dignity of feeling part of a community. With this vision, which fully embraces the objectives of social inclusion and the fight against poverty, Coop renews its historic commitment with “Donate your shopping”. A national mobilization that transforms sales points into solidarity squares, where members and customers can purchase basic necessities to be donated to local associations.
The intent? Supporting those who are going through a moment of fragility, but doing so in a way that puts the person at the centre. Not simple welfare, but a concrete support network capable of activating local communities. This is what happens, for example, in Pisa, where the collaboration with Caritas and the director Don Emanuele Morelli has transformed donations into fuel for the “Solidarity Emporium”.
«It is a model created to overcome the old logic of the standard “shopping package”, says Don Emanuele, giving voice to a reality widespread throughout Italy. «In Emporiums people do not passively take what is given to them, but choose what they really need using a points card. It’s a more dignified and respectful process.”
The numbers confirm the strength of this initiative: thanks to the generosity of members and customers, over 1,000 tons of food were donated in 2025 alone, destined for over 900 associations throughout Italy. This extraordinary commitment is accompanied by the “Buon Fine” structural project, which recovers unsellable but perfectly edible products: an action that allowed an additional 4,477 tons of goods to be donated, the equivalent of approximately 9 million meals.
And since food is above all a relationship, the initiative becomes a pretext for rebuilding bonds. The spaces supported by Coop become places of inclusion.
«The heart of everything is the relationship with people», concludes Don Emanuele. «Even at Christmas: thanks to Coop’s support, we are able to offer “extra” products, such as panettone, at a symbolic price. For a family in difficulty, being able to “buy” dessert for the party means normalityit means feeling equal to others.”
«“Donate your shopping” is a bridge between the generosity of members and customers and the concrete needs of the families of our communities», he adds Carmela Favarulo, Ancc-Coop Social Policy Coordinator. «Since 2016, the Cooperatives, thanks to the help of their voluntary members, institutions and associations in the area, have been promoting and organizing 4 “Donate your shopping” solidarity collections (two of basic necessities in May and October, one of pet food in July and one of school supplies in early September) to support those organizations that work every day to support the most vulnerable categories».
