Two big food charities are looking for volunteers to help hand out food in Bermondsey this summer.
Charities FareShare and the Trussell Trust will be collecting long-life food from July 15-July 17 charities in big Tescos across the UK to support children and families throughout the summer holidays.
Food given during the collection will go to support food banks in the Trussell Trust’s network and to local charities supplied by FareShare, including holiday clubs providing healthy meals and activities to young people outside of school terms.
The charities need volunteers to encourage shoppers to leave their donations in the collection point at the front of stores, and to raise awareness of the campaign online.
Richard Smith, supply chain manager at the Felix Project, a food distribution charity in Deptford that works with FareShare, said: “More people than ever are struggling to put food on the table and will do for months if not years to come as the economy recovers. We have seen a huge increase in people turning to their local grassroots community groups for support and demand for food remains high.
“We would be incredibly grateful to anyone who is able to volunteer just two hours of their time this year to encourage more shoppers to donate much needed long-life food to those who need it most.”
Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, urged people to help online as well.
“We’re seeing more people than ever struggling in extreme poverty and pushed to the doors of food banks because they do not have enough money to survive,” she said.
“This isn’t right. But over the last year, we have been overwhelmed by the support people in Southwark have shown towards food banks in our network by donating food at Tesco.
This summer, we would be so grateful if people can share shopping lists of their local food bank’s most-needed items on their social media, support the Tesco Summer Food Collection when they are next in store, and encourage friends and family to donate. Together we can make a difference and work towards building a hunger free future.”
Tesco will top up customer donations made in store by twenty percent in cash.
To find out more about volunteering and to sign up visit: https://fareshare.org.uk/foodcollection/
This extra food drive is on top of the usual donation events Tesco organises before Christmas.