Thousands of meals donated by Exeter Tesco shoppers this Christmas

Thousands of meals have been donated to food banks and groups feeding people, thanks to the generosity of Tesco’s Exeter shoppers, figures released today reveal.

Exeter shoppers donated 5,322 meals as part of the overall total of 2.5 million meals donated to charities the Trussell Trust and FareShare by shoppers during last month’s Tesco Food Collection, with Tesco topping up the value of all the donations by an additional 20%.

These donations to food banks in the Trussell Trust’s network are being used to provide food parcels for people in crisis, while donations to FareShare go to charities and community groups such as homeless shelters and older people’s lunch clubs who also receive surplus food from Tesco stores.

The donations from the three-day collection are in addition to items donated by customers throughout 2019. In the year to October, more than 7 million meals were donated to food banks in the Trussell Trust’s network at those in-store collection points.

Tesco Director Christine Heffernan said: “On my visits to stores during the Collection I was taken aback by the generosity of our customers. I would like to thank all those who donated.”

The Trussell Trust’s Chief Executive Emma Revie added: “Food banks up could not do what they do without the incredible support of the public and their loyal volunteers, who work tirelessly to help people when they need support the most.

“An emergency food parcel, listening ear and compassionate, practical advice at the food bank can make a real difference when someone is facing a crisis. Any donations help make that difference.”

Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive at FareShare, said: “We are hugely grateful to every single person who volunteered and donated items during this year’s Tesco Food Collection - it was wonderful to see so many passionate people lending a hand to support us. All items donated by Tesco customers will be redistributed by FareShare to charities and community organisations and will help to ensure more people get a hot, nutritious meal.”

The Tesco Food Collection ran in all Tesco stores from November 21 to 23.