Wellbeing

Let’s share the message and save lives

In our charity partnerships we are committed to funding and raising awareness of projects that positively impact the wellbeing of all of our communities.

Through innovative product campaigns and co developed programmes such as the ‘Schools Against Sepsis’ campaign and ‘Prostate Cancer UK’ awareness initiative, we have been able to significantly raise awareness of these conditions.

Our recent partnership with Campaign Against Living Miserably is helping to ‘Break the Ice’ by encouraging and empowering people to start life-saving conversations about suicide and mental health.

“I am incredibly proud of the work that IFCF has done in raising awareness of sepsis, particularly through our messaging on milk cartons and our support for the Schools against Sepsis education campaign. Having experienced the devastating impact of sepsis within my own family, I know just how important this work is, and I am convinced that our support for the UK Sepsis Trust will have a direct impact in saving lives. There can surely be no more humbling yet fulfilling reason for supporting any charity.

Richard Ewen

Chief Financial Officer

Iceland Foods Ltd

“We’re thrilled to be teaming up with Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation on a ground-breaking partnership to break the silence around suicide and bring hope and life-saving conversations to high streets and Iceland stores across the UK.

It’s been a tough few years, and for many, it can feel like things aren’t going to get much better any time soon. This partnership with Iceland will raise awareness of CALM’s life-saving message and services with millions of people, providing support to anyone struggling and potentially saving lives. CALM is a lifeline for so many people right now, and with the support of Iceland, we can continue to reach more people than ever in our fight against suicide.’’

Simon Gunning
CEO
CALM

Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM)

IFCF has partnered with CALM to raise awareness of the suicide prevention charity and to create 5 million life saving conversations, one for every customer that walks through our store doors each week.

Currently in the UK, data shows 1 in 5 of us will have suicidal thoughts at some point in their lifetime,125 people are lost every week to suicide and shockingly someone dies by suicide every 90 minutes on average in the UK. Proof that we urgently needed to highlight this issue to our millions of customers, colleagues, and suppliers.

During the partnership, our Iceland and Food Warehouse colleagues, charity champions, and store managers nationwide took on several fundraising challenges to raise funds for CALM‘s vital helpline service.

Through in-store messaging, leaflets in online deliveries and our very first CALM branded lorry we have been able to help smash the stigma by educating and empowering people to break the ice and start life-saving conversations about suicide and mental health.

‘The power in this project is the partnership. When Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation came to us with an idea to collaborate, we quickly came to the same conclusion: more needs to be done to support children of alcoholics in schools.

This is not about swooping in and targeting particular young people, it’s about generating healthy conversation amongst all students and teachers about the impacts of alcohol on individuals and the family. That creates a virtuous cycle which breaks down stigma and will lead to individuals affected feeling seen and knowing that they aren’t alone and that there are ways to protect themselves and feel better.

With Iceland Foods, we are starting on a journey that will change lives of some of the most vulnerable young people you can imagine.’

Hilary Henriques MBE
Chief Executive
Nacoa

NACOA UK

1 in 5 children are affected by a parent’s drinking in the UK and over 700,000 children live with an alcohol dependent parent. Through our partnership with Nacoa, the national charity for everyone affected by a parent’s drinking or similar addictive issues, we want to help change this figure.

Our support on Nacoa’s School Programme will not only boost awareness and understanding in schools about alcoholism and it’s impacts on families but our funding has enabled Nacoa to double its current capacity. Working together we will deliver the largest outreach project of its kind in UK history.

With our support Prostate Cancer UK have been able to fund research that has helped to diagnosis prostate cancer and develop the world’s first precision medicine for prostate cancer. Our funds have also assisted Prostate Cancer UK launch a public awareness campaign in partnership with NHS England to find the 14,000 men who missed their prostate cancer due to the pandemic.

Prostate Cancer UK

FCF have been a long term supporter of Prostate Cancer UK and since 2008 we have donated over £1 million to save and improve the lives of men with prostate cancer.

We’re delighted to continue our partnership with Iceland Foods working with us to raise awareness of prostate cancer.

We’d like to thank you Astonish for supporting and helping us reach households across the UK with our important and lifesaving health message. By scanning the QR code on the Father’s Day handwash bottles, men can check their risk of prostate cancer in less than 30 seconds. This online risk checker helps men separate the fact from the fiction and gives them accurate health information so that our Dads, brothers, sons and mates can make the right choices.

Over 12,000 men die from prostate cancer each year in the UK, and it is the most common cancer in men. It poses a significant threat to men’s lives and currently there is no routine screening programme - this needs to change.
We’re grateful for our incredible partner, like Iceland, who continue to support our lifesaving work and help
turn these ambitions in to reality’.”

Laura Kerby
Chief Executive
Prostate Cancer UK

Partnership with Prostate Cancer UK and Astonish

For Father’s Day 2023, IFCF partnered with Prostate Cancer UK and Astonish to raise critical awareness and funds for thousands of men affected by prostate cancer.

Astonish Protect and Care hand wash products were available in all Iceland Foods stores, the hand wash bottles included a QR code linking to Prostate Cancer UK’s Free online digital risk checker tool. Around one million people have completed Prostate Cancer UK’s online tool to understand their risk, but many regions are being left behind in a postcode lottery.

" We're hugely grateful for IFCF's vital role in encouraging as many people as possible to get Sepsis Savvy and to
know when to 'Just Ask: Could it be Sepsis?'

It's a simple question with the power to save lives, since 1 in 3 of us in the UK wouldn't treat sepsis as a medical emergency. Put simply, that must change to avoid thousands of preventable deaths every year."

Dr Ron Daniels
CEO
The UK Sepsis Trust

The UK Sepsis Trust

By partnering with the UK Sepsis Trust we are raising awareness of sepsis symptoms through an innovative milk campaign, funding the unique 'Schools Against Sepsis' campaign and sponsoring the Sepsis Savvy Campaign.

“When it comes to saving lives from sepsis we know awareness is key. That’s why we’re delighted to have been involved with Sepsis Savvy from the start and, of course, to be one of the first organisations to sign up. The short film and game make it easy for us to educate our colleagues about sepsis and the signs to look out for and, crucially, it’s free and really easy to implement. We’re encouraging other like-minded companies to get involved too – if we all play our part, we can save even more lives.”

Tarsem Dhaliwal
CEO of Iceland Foods and Trustee of IFCF

Sepsis Savvy

‘Sepsis Savvy’ encourages businesses to raise awareness among their staff of the deadly condition which last year claimed at least 48,000 lives in the UK – more than breast, bowel and prostate cancers combined.

Sepsis occurs when the immune system overreacts to an infection. Globally it claims 11 million lives a year, yet with early diagnosis it can often be treated quickly and easily. Unfortunately, sepsis can often be missed as there is no one sign, and symptoms can present differently amongst adults and children. That’s why the charity is encouraging organisations to empower their staff and customers to become sepsis savvy, so they can be alert and understand the importance of asking: ‘could it be sepsis?’

The free Sepsis Savvy resources, including a short educational video and a simple online game, are available by signing up here.

Getting the message out about sepsis awareness is really important. Everybody should be aware of the signs and symptoms. If it wasn’t for the UK Sepsis Trust’s free ‘Schools Against Sepsis’ resources my mother would not be here now. The UK Sepsis Trust are doing an
amazing and crucial job but they wouldn’t be able to do the job without the support of Iceland. So, a massive ‘Thank You’ Iceland.”

Emma Cox
Secondary School Teacher
Bristol

Schools Against Sepsis

The foundation worked with the UK Sepsis Trust to create the first ever ‘Schools Against Sepsis’ campaign. This life saving campaign has produced education resources such as manuals and videos for teachers to use in classrooms throughout the UK.

So far the campaign has 1,009 schools registered for the programme with a reach of 1,200,000 students and staff.

World Sepsis Day

On World Sepsis Day – 13th September 2023, Iceland helped to deliver the message to as many people as possible through messaging on milk, receipts, leaflets in all online deliveries and stickers on all Iceland delivery vans.