THE Crediton Tesco store at Wellparks held a much-needed emergency collection of food items from members of the public on August 20, 21 and 22 and the store’s generous customers quite literally delivered the goods.

The three day collection yielded more than 65 boxes of items; produce, toiletries, and cleaning products, items which Crediton Foodbank had specifically requested to boost its stock levels which have been diminishing during a time which has seen demand for the community organisation rise almost exponentially throughout 2020.

The impact of Covid-19, with the imposition of Lockdown, furloughing and redundancies has meant that Crediton Foodbank has been a lifeline for families and residents of Crediton and the surrounding areas in numbers never before seen.

And, as the economic aftermath continues to affect businesses both small and large alike, there is every chance that a cessation in usage will not happen any time soon.

Andrew Drayton, the Community Champion for the superstore was, again, delighted with the response from the Crediton community, saying: “We have been doing these collections now for eight years and on every occasion the Crediton public show their generosity of spirit and sense of community for those that find themselves needing a helping hand.”

He continued: “We work with Crediton Foodbank throughout the year, supporting wherever we can and to be able to host an event that will benefit them greatly, knowing the fantastic work that they do is a pleasure.”

The Neighbourhood Food Collection is a National Tesco event held in conjunction with food charities Fareshare and The Trussell Trust. Tesco tops up all of these donations by 10 per cent.

The first collection took place in 2012 and, to-date, more than 53 million meals have been collected and donated nationwide to groups such as; Foodbanks, Women’s refuges, Homeless Shelters and Children’s Breakfast Clubs.

The stores Services Manager, Emily Conner, commented: “We are proud of all of the community work that we do with the myriad of groups, organisations and charities that we have in Crediton and the surrounding area that our store covers.

"The Neighbourhood Food Collection is one of our biggest events and it is fantastic to see how well it’s supported with our customers’ generous spirit. We’d like to thank everyone that made a donation over the three days, no matter how large or small.”

Andrew expanded on this: “The food collections that we run are always well supported, for two reasons. Firstly, the average household in the UK is estimated to be 63 days away from the need for hardship support - basically two missed months of rent/mortgage - so virtually anyone can, through no fault of their own, find themselves very quickly in difficult financial straits.”

He continued: “Secondly, when you are donating a tin/packet/box of food you know that item will go directly to an individual or family that need it and will get all of the benefit of the donation.”

If, for any reason you did not get a chance to donate during the collection, there is a permanent collection box at the Crediton Tesco Superstore near the exit as you are leaving, which Crediton Foodbank collect from twice a week.

Andrew finished by saying: “I’ll add to what Emily said by again thanking every one of our customers that donated to our collection.

"Crediton Foodbank is a wonderful organisation, essentially run by volunteers, that do tremendous work in and around Crediton for many, many people who find themselves in a position where they just need a helping hand.”