SHOPPERS have been encouraged to donate items to their local foodbank to help ensure Londoners do not go hungry.
Staff at Tesco in Shepherd’s Bush Road took part in the second National Food Collection on Friday and Saturday last week to help provide much-needed food for thousands of people.
Customers were encouraged to pick up an extra item from the selected shopping list and donate it at the end of their shop. Tesco then topped up the donation by 30 per cent.
The collection came after research by the supermarket, foodbank charity The Trussell Trust and food redistribution charity FareShare showed almost one in five people (17 per cent) in the capital have skipped meals, gone without food to feed their family, or relied on family and friends for food in the past year.
It also revealed 70 per cent of families suffering from food poverty with children at primary schools, rely in some part on food supplied by schools through free meals or breakfast clubs, so a large number of children may go hungry during the upcoming school holidays.
Tesco stores across London participated in the National Food Collection just seven months after all of the company’s UK stores took part in the first collection, when the equivalent of 2.4 million meals were gathered.
Rebecca Shelley, group corporate affairs director at Tesco, said: "Since our last national food collection in December, the problem of food poverty in the UK has increased and shows no signs of improving. It’s hitting families hard, especially when resources like free school meals, breakfast clubs and after-school clubs are not available."
Chris Mould, chairman of the Trussell Trust, added that the thousands of people turning to foodbanks is a stark reminder of how tough things have become for many people.
He said: "We’re meeting parents who’ve gone hungry for days in order to feed their children, and school holidays are always especially difficult, with many budgets stretched to breaking point. Our foodbanks across the UK are working tirelessly to meet the growing demand and the Tesco collection will provide vital supplies to help stop families going hungry this summer."
Tesco also accepted cash donations from people shopping online and they will set up permanent collection points in some stores.
