Generous Dumfries Tesco shoppers donate enough food for nearly 800 meals

Generous Tesco shoppers in Dumfries and Galloway have been thanked after donating food to create 770 meals during Christmas and the winter months.

All the region’s Tesco stores ran a three-day extra collection at the end of November and customers were asked to donate long-life food to support FareShare and the Trussell Trust.

It was held simultaneously at Tesco stores across the UK and the company has revealed this week that customers had given the highest volume of food donations to support local charities since the start of the pandemic – providing a collective 1.57M meals from the campaign.

The donations will help foodbanks in the Trussell Trust’s network provide emergency parcels and help FareShare supply thousands of frontline charities. Tesco has once again topped up all customer donations with a 20 per cent cash donation to the two charities, to support them in their work feeding people in communities across the UK.

Hundreds of items handed into the Tesco Extra supermarket during the campaign have been distributed through the Apex Trussell Trust foodbank in Dumfries.

Tesco community champion Anne Croucher said they were “absolutely thrilled” with the support shown. She said: “A massive thank you to all our customers and colleagues who donated to the food collection. Foodbank manager Fiona Dalgleish and I have been overwhelmed by the show of support.”

Lindsay Boswell, chief executive at FareShare, said shoppers’ donations across the region will make a huge difference to the frontline charities they supplied: “The Food Collection is so important to FareShare because donations of long-life items means we are able to compliment the fresh food that we receive year round from Tesco with staples like rice, tinned vegetables and tea and coffee.

“Thank you to every single Tesco customer that donated to the food collection this year – your generous donations will help us to continue supporting local charities and community groups that are helping to feed people in need this winter.”

Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, said: “This emergency lifeline is only possible due to the incredible compassion and generosity of Tesco customers, including those in Dumfries and Galloway, during the Tesco Food Collection.

“Right now, people near you are making impossible decisions between staying warm or buying food as food banks in our network face providing 7,000 emergency food parcels to people in crisis every day this month. It’s not right that any of us are forced to a charity for the essentials, but we continue to be truly humbled by how much people are willing to give and so we thank you for your continued support while we work in the long term to build a future without the need for food banks.”

Claire de Silva, head of community at Tesco thanked all those who took part: “At this time more than ever, we are hugely grateful for the support of all our customers in Dumfries and Galloway who have donated in store for making this the biggest collection of long-life food in our stores since the start of the pandemic. We know this will make a really significant difference to local people this winter.”