Foodbank gets help from Tesco

HINCKLEY Foodbank is being aided in its vital work supporting people unable to afford essentials amidst the coronavirus pandemic thanks to a £15 million UK-wide donation of food from Tesco.

The food bank has been receiving weekly deliveries of food from the supermarket after experiencing an unprecedented rise in need during the current lockdown.

Hinckley Foodbank’s manager, Julie Baker, said: “The donations from Tesco have helped massively we get all the staple items we really need and they are a lifeline when a lot of the smaller donation points such as churches we normally receive food from have closed.

“We’ve been extremely busy. The profile of our clients has now changed and we’re now seeing more families, rather than people on their own, who need our help.

“People are really struggling, whether that’s because they’ve been furloughed, made redundant or have seen a drop in income, which means they’re unable to feed themselves or their family.

“We’ve had to temporarily shut three of our eight centres as many of our volunteers fall into the vulnerable category, but we’ve set up delivery services to help people who are self-isolating so they’re still able to get the help they need.”

Hinckley Foodbank is part of the Trussell Trust’s food bank network. Tesco is donating the additional £15 million of food to support its partner charities the Trussell Trust and FareShare to respond to the extra demands to provide emergency food supplies caused by the pandemic.

Already trucks full of Tesco food donations have been delivered to the two charities, with over 100 tonnes of food being delivered to the FareShare regional centre in the East Midlands to support 307 charities with over 252,000 meals-worth of food.

Andy Cleaver, the Trussell Trust’s area manager for the East Midlands said the donations were helping to support people unable to afford their own food:

He said: “We’re incredibly grateful for Tesco’s continued support throughout the coronavirus pandemic.”