Falkirk area shoppers donate almost 20,000 Christmas meals to food banks

More than 19,800 meals were provided as part of an overall total of 2.5 million meals donated to the Trussell Trust and FareShare during a Tesco Food Collection held in November.

The supermarket giant then topped up customer donations by an additional 20 per cent.

Items handed to food banks in the Trussell Trust’s network will be 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, which ran from November 21 to November 23, are in addition to items donated by customers throughout the year at a network of more than 500 permanent collection points at Tesco stores.

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.”

Emma Revie, Trussell Trust chief executive, said: “Food banks up and down the country 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, added: “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.”