5 WAYS TO DONATE TO LOCAL FOOD BANKS

In these difficult times, you can help those going hungry

A record 1.2m emergency food parcels were distributed by food banks to those in need in the six months leading up to September 2020, according to The Trussell Trust, and the charity is predicting that its food banks will be giving out a staggering six emergency food parcels every minute in the coming months. Want to help? Here is where to find your local food bank and how to donate.

1 DONATE GROCERIES

You can donate directly to your local food bank (find your nearest at trusselltrust.org/ get-help/find-a-foodbank); call to check when it is open and what it needs. You can also donate in most supermarkets.

Morrisons customers can pick up prepacked bags of groceries in branches (between £1 and £3) that are designed around the needs of local food banks.

2 CLICK TO GIVE

If you are not able to donate food in-store, most supermarkets give the option of adding a donation to your online shopping basket instead.

3 SHARE YOUR POINTS

You can now donate Tesco Clubcard vouchers to The Trussell Trust or Fareshare, a charity that redistributes surplus food to charities (the value is the face value of the voucher, so with a 50p voucher, 50p goes to charity).

4 USE AN APP

Bankuet was set up last year by Robin Ferris after he saw that his local food bank was inundated with pasta, but never had enough of items such as tampons. Donors can give money through the app, then Bankuet buys products that food banks have requested at a bulk discount. You can make a one-off donation or set up a regular direct debit.

5 SHOP ON AMAZON

If you shop for Amazon products using the Amazonsmile site, the company donates 0.5% of the purchase price (excluding VAT, returns and shipping fees) to the charity of your choice, including Fareshare.