Delhaize Group Fund launches its 6th call for projects in Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

In Molenbeek (Brussels) ten bakers get together to develop a new breakfast pastry, an alternative to the traditional croissant; residents in the Meulestede neighbourhood of Ghent grow their own organic vegetables together in the community gardens near the local restaurant; residents of different origins living in the Sainte-Walburge neighbourhood of Liege share traditional plant-based recipes; and so on.

Encouraged by initiatives such as these, which are among the 170 prize-winners of its previous calls, this year the Delhaize Group Fund is launching a call for projects that aim at improving social interaction in villages and neighbourhoods through food. The pleasure of sharing food, its cultural heritage and universal language, its link to gardening and ecology, solidarity and social integration, all can be the starting point for social interaction and mutual well-being.

Projects can be related to various aspects of the overall food chain, in areas such as food production (e.g. communal vegetable gardens), consumption (e.g. through exchanges between different cultures, generations or social groups) and food recycling. Any of the different facets of food and cooking can serve to create greater social cohesion in neighbourhoods and villages.

For the sixth consecutive year, the Delhaize Group Fund, managed by the King Baudouin Foundation, is inviting local people and associations to send in an application for the 2013 call for projects.

The fund will prioritise projects in which local people are actively involved and participate.

Applications should be sent to the King Baudouin Foundation before 23rd May 2013. A jury of independent experts will examine and select the winning projects and decide on the amount to be awarded (with a maximum of €5,000 per project). The Fund has a total of €150,000 available for the projects chosen in Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

More information on the procedure to follow and the selection criteria can be found on the King Baudouin Foundation website www.kbs-frb.be. Application forms should be completed online at www.kbs-frb.be.

The Delhaize Group Fund, created within the King Baudouin Foundation, demonstrates Delhaize Group’s willingness to invest socially in the communities where its stores are based and thus improve the collective welfare of residents. Through this project the Group enforces its focus on being a socially responsible company that is concerned about meeting high standards in social, environmental and ethical matters.