Tesco is set to launch a winter food drive in a bid to help the Trussell Trust and Fareshare, as both charities are facing an unprecedented demand for food.
Tesco’s Food Collection which is taking place across all of the Big 4 grocer‘s stores from 1 to 3 December, is asking shoppers to donate long-life food to support the charities.
This comes as the Trussell Trust has seen a 46% increase in the number of food parcels given out in recent months and FareShare has a list of thousands of frontline charities seeking food.
Donations will help to provide emergency food parcels via the Trussell Trust, while donations to FareShare will support its food deliveries to thousands of charities.
Tesco, which has partnered with the charities for the past 10 years with its donations to the Trussell Trust providing one in five food parcels given out by the charity, will also be topping up its customer donations by 20% in cash.
To collect as much food as possible, the charities are urging volunteers to sign up and support the in-store food collection.
“As winter sets in, even more people will be pushed deeper into poverty and we’re expecting hundreds of thousands of people to be forced to use a food bank in the coming months,” Trussell Trust chief executive, Emma Revie said.
“This increase in need means that the winter Tesco Food Collection will be more important than ever as food banks work tirelessly to help everyone who needs their support.”
FareShare chief executive, Lindsay Boswell added: “The cost-of-living crisis is forcing more and more people to turn to their local charities for support with food and other services, meaning the demand for FareShare food has skyrocketed.
“The Tesco Food Collection is a vital event for FareShare, helping to bring in much needed long-life food that will help us continue our support of the people most in need this winter. Volunteering at the Tesco Food Collection this December will make a huge difference during this increasingly difficult time.”
