Wigan supermarkets hold extra food collections to help charities during pandemic

Tesco will be holding extra food collections this week for the Trussell Trust and Fare Share, and they want customers to donate essentual items of long-life food.

There will be donation points at every Tesco Superstore and Extra - including those in the borough - from Thursday to Saturday.

Tesco has pledged to top up all customer donations with an extra 20 per cent donation in cash to the two charities.

The collection has been organised in response to the extra pressure placed on the food banks and community groups which FareShare and the Trussell Trust are supporting during the Covid-19 pandemic.

FareShare has seen its highest ever demand for food from the thousands of local charities and community groups it supports, while the Trussell Trust has seen need at food banks in its network soar by more than 80 per cent.

Tesco director David Page said: “This is a really challenging time for the two charities because of the big rise in demand on them for food. Our customers have responded with incredible generosity to our food collections in the past, donating more than 39m meals. I hope they will give generously again because there are a lot of people that need a helping hand at the moment and this appeal will make a real difference to them.”

Gareth Duffield, the Trussell Trust’s area manager for Greater Manchester, said: “Over the last few months, we’ve been truly humbled to see how much people in Greater Manchester are willing to give and the difference this can make when someone is in crisis. As we look to the coming months, more people than ever are likely to need to use a food bank. This isn’t right. Everyone should be able to afford their own food. Every donation made during Tesco’s summer food collection will help food banks in our network provide the best possible emergency help to people referred at an uncertain time.”

Miranda Kaunang, FareShare’s development manager in Greater Manchester, added: “Applications from charities and community groups needing vital food supplies have tripled since the start of the lockdown. The crisis is far from over and we are incredibly thankful to Tesco for running this emergency food collection as it will ensure we can continue to support frontline charities helping to feed those who are most vulnerable right now.”

Tesco customers unable to give to the collection in store can support the Trussell Trust and FareShare by donating their Tesco Clubcard vouchers. Full details can be found at the Tesco Clubcard website.

The two food charities have already been helped by Tesco as part of a £30m package of community support in response to the pandemic.

That package included donations of surplus food worth £9m through FareShare, as well as a £15m donation of extra food to the two charities and a generous £1m between them to help them with their increased running costs especially during the pandemic.