Disaster Relief
Coles team members live and work in hundreds of towns and cities across Australia and are passionate about supporting their community during times of need.
Coles has a long history of supporting the community by raising and donating funds for disaster relief, as well as essential supplies to support emergency services and vulnerable communities.
In recent times, Coles and our customers have supported communities across Australia affected by bushfires, cyclones and floods.
From 2 March to 15 March 2022, to help Queensland and NSW communities affected by recent severe flooding, Coles is supporting the Australian Red Cross Qld and NSW Floods Appeal by matching customer donations dollar-for-dollar up to $1 million. We’ve also donated approximately $3 million in gift cards to around 6,000 fire brigades across Australia.
In 2021 alone, Coles and our customers donated over $833,000 to support disaster relief efforts in Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland, with funds raised going to support the Lord Mayor’s Distress Relief Fund (LMDRF) in WA and not-for-profit GIVIT in NSW and QLD to provide emergency and household items to local residents.
In addition to raising funds, Coles stores teams across the states helped to support evacuees and emergency services by donating essential items including water, milk, bread, fruit, toiletry items and snacks.
Below are just a few examples of our outstanding team members' disaster relief efforts.
John Appleby, Coles Regional Manager NSW
John and his team baked thousands of loaves of bread and cooked hundreds of roast chickens to feed fire fighters and evacuees in Batemans Bay.
Meagan Burt, Liquorland Store Manager, Swan Hill VIC & CFA Volunteer
Like many of our team members, Meagan has been helping fight the fires. She has been leading her 5 tanker strike team for Swan Hill CFA near Omeo.
Team at Coles Kalgoorlie, WA
The team at Coles Kalgoorlie in WA arranged to fly food and essentials for over 200 truck drivers and holidaymakers stranded due to bushfires closing the Eyre Highway.
Mogo Wildlife Park, NSW
Coles has donated tonnes of fresh fruit, vegetables and animal feed to many wildlife organisations across Australia.
Drought relief
Together with our customers, Coles has committed more than $18M to drought relief since July 2018. This support has helped more than 4,000 farming families pay for household or farm expenses in times of drought and start projects that will help them cope with drought in the future.
