Generous customers from across the Island donated an incredible 1.8 tonnes of food at Tesco’s National Food Collection on the 5th & 6th July to help local people in need.
Customers visiting the Tesco Extra store in Ryde were asked to donate non-perishable food items such as long-life milk, cereals and tinned vegetables and fruit. In June this year, the Isle of Wight Foodbank fed an average of 100 people a week, 45% of which were children.
Tesco Extra, Ryde held the appeal in partnership with IoW Foodbank charity, the Trussell Trust. Nationally, Tesco stores, Trussell Trust Foodbanks, Fareshare & online grocery distribution centres across the country collected a grand total of 3.5 million meals for people in need.
Furthermore, Tesco’s local store has topped up the donations by 30% and is continuing to work with the Isle of Wight Foodbank to collect and distribute food to local residents in need.
Hannah King, Project Leader at IoW Foodbank said:
“It was an incredible amount of food that was donated by local people. All food donated on the Island, stays on the Island. We are always thrilled with the generosity of Islanders WITH THIS COLLECTION BEING OUR BIGGEST EVER. Our volunteers were at Tesco Extra until 10pm on Saturday and it has taken a week for us to take delivery and weigh in the food at our warehouse. Its HUGE!”
Rebecca Shelley, Group Corporate Affairs Director at Tesco added:
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the response from customers on the Island and thanks to their generosity we’ve been able to collect much-needed food for people in need.
Article continues below this advertisement “To raise 1.8 tonnes (1831.1 kilos) in the area is an incredible achievement and I want to thank all our customers and colleagues for their support.”
Tesco will begin to roll out permanent collection points in some of its larger stores in the coming months and will hold its next National Food Collection at the end of the year.
