tesco christmas food collection

Source: Tesco

Food donated to FareShare will be distributed to charities and community groups providing meals for vulnerable groups

Tesco kicks off its annual food collection for people in need at Christmas today, hoping to beat last year’s total of 3.5 million meals worth of food.

The Tesco Food Collection launches across the supermarket’s stores, with customers invited to donate long-life food to support charities the Trussell Trust and FareShare, helping people who cannot afford to feed themselves and their families.

Food donated to food banks in the Trussell Trust’s network will be given in emergency food parcels to people referred because of financial hardship, whereas food donated to FareShare will be distributed to charities and community groups providing meals for vulnerable groups such as isolated older people and those in homeless shelters.

Tesco said it will top up the value of customer donations by an additional 20%.

“We know the items our customers donate can make a real difference to people who really need that little bit of extra help this year,” said Tesco’s group communications director Christine Heffernan. “Whether it is in a food parcel for someone at a time of crisis, or part of a hot meal which means a vulnerable person does not feel lonely this Christmas.

“Both FareShare and the Trussell Trust do amazing work and we are proud to do our bit at Tesco by topping up the public donations to the Tesco Food Collection by 20%.”

The Tesco Food Collection runs from today until Saturday (23 November).