Tesco customers in Carmarthen donate 4,629 meals in latest food collection.
Tesco customer have donated an incredible 3.6 million meals during the sixth neighbourhood food collection this summer. The figure is an increase of 13% compared to last summer’s collection.
Tesco customers in Carmarthen donated 4,629 meals in the Tesco Extra store during the three day collection.
Carmarthen Foodbank, set up by Towy Community Church in partnership with The Trussell Trust, will use the donated food to create emergency food parcels containing three days’ supply of nutritionally-balanced food which will be given to local men, women and children in crisis, with Tesco adding an extra 30% to all customer donations. Between 1st April 2014 and 31st March, 1570 people were provided with three days’ emergency food by Carmarthen Foodbank. Supermarket collections are one of the main ways Trussell Trust foodbanks are stocked, so Judy Pawluk, the Carmarthen Foodbank manager is very grateful for the ongoing support of the local community.
There has also been a significant increase in the amount of food customers are donating day in day out at in-store permanent collection points. Over 1.2 million meals worth of food were donated at permanent collection points in 507 Tesco stores in the first six months of 2015, almost as much as the whole of 2014 combined.
Food poverty continues to be a serious issue across the UK as figures published by The Trussell Trust this winter showed the number of people helped by foodbanks in the first half of the 2014-15 financial year is 38% higher than numbers helped during the same period last year.
David McAuley, Trussell Trust Chief Executive, said: “We are truely grateful for the amazing efforts by Tesco store staff, customers, volunteers and foodbanks in this year’s summer neighbourhood food collection. The donations will make a huge difference to foodbanks’ ability to not only provide a minimum of three days’ emergency food to people in need but also additional support to tackle root causes of poverty. It is timely given the additional pressure on families of providing lunch time meals and child care during the summer holiday months.
“I would like to say a special thank you to everyone at Tesco who help make this event such a success. Since the neighbourhood food collection inception in the summer of 2012 Tesco customers have donated over 27 million meals to help feed people in crisis.”