SHOPPERS in Crediton can now donate food items to help people in their community each time they visit their local Tesco Superstore.

A new collection point for the local foodbank, in the FareShare network, has been set up at the Crediton Tesco store at Wellparks.

The new donation point means that shoppers can drop off donations of long-life food whenever they are in store, with Tesco topping up customer donations by an additional 20 per cent in the form of a cash donation to the charity.

The customer donations will help FareShare in its efforts to support people in Crediton, with regular donations needed more than ever due to the extra pressure placed on the charity by the Covid-19 pandemic.

By looking at the donation point, customers will be able to see which food items their local charity needs most.

Phoebe Ruxton, Head of Development at FareShare South West, said: “Tesco is really leading the way by enabling their customers to donate food to local vulnerable communities via collection points in their stores.

“By introducing even more Permanent Collection Points for FareShare in stores across the UK, there are more opportunities for Tesco customers to make a donation of a food item where they are able to. In the last year, generous Tesco customers donated the equivalent of one million meals to FareShare, and I’d like to thank every single person for their support.

“The store cupboard essential items donated through the collection points, such as tinned meat, fish and pasta, are always needed. Those donations mean that we have a consistent supply of food, which we have been able to redistribute to our network of charities and community organisations supporting those most in need.”

Tesco’s Head of Community Claire de Silva said: “Covid-19 has placed huge demands on food charities. FareShare has been supporting 12,000 frontline charity and community groups, while food banks in the Trussell Trust network provided a record 1.2 million food parcels during the first six months of the pandemic.

“We know that our customers want to help and by installing the new donation points it means all our customers can now easily donate food year-round.”

Shoppers who are unable to make food donations in store can give their support to the two food charities in other ways. They can donate their Tesco Clubcard points to the Trussell Trust and FareShare through the Clubcard website, or they can donate directly to the charities at: www.trusselltrust.org or: www.fareshare.org.uk .