Tesco shows support to young people in East Lothian

East Lothian New Horizons Housing Service assists young people, between the ages of 16 - 25, who are homeless and are preparing for independent living on a limited income.

The group provides a welcoming space, professional and non-judgemental general counselling and support services within a safe and comfortable environment, focussing on key areas the young people require support. This includins teaching all practical skills needed to manage and maintain their own tenancies, and emotional support to manage all aspects of living independently.

The group receives food donations from their local Tesco store in Haddington, through the Tesco Community Food Connection (CFC), a group that is on hand to help support the local area.

New Horizons helps young homeless people get back on their feet

As well as collecting food from Tesco, East Lothian New Horizons also received a generous grant through the Tesco community grants initiative, which has been used to provide all new young people moving in with a suitcase of basic supplies, such as a first aid kid, personal toiletries, cutlery and a £10 Tesco voucher. They are then free to take their suitcase and items within it with them upon leaving.

Jane Moodley, Team Leader of Housing Support at East Lothian New Horizons Housing Service, said: “The use of this grant to buy essential items is greatly appreciated by our young residents, who are arriving at the facility with little to nothing. Likewise, the food donations allow our young people to budget their money for other essentials, without going hungry.

“We’d like to thank Tesco and FareShare for helping us with this project and their involvement with the local community is wonderful to see.”

The Community Food Connection scheme ensures that surplus food from Tesco doesn’t go to waste and is instead provided to charities and community groups, whose volunteer members then distribute it to the public.

Tony McElroy, Corporate Communications and Sustainability Leader at Tesco, said: “Working with community groups and schools, such as New Horizons Housing Service, to help them get the food and supplies they need is such an important service for us to provide. The dedication they have to their local community is amazing, and we are pleased to do what we can to support.

“We firmly believe no good food should go to waste, which is why we began our Community Food Connection scheme. It enables us to ensure our surplus food is put to good use in communities.”

FareShare is the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste. Two-thirds of the organisations it provides food to, support children and families.

Katie Sadler, Head of FareShare Go, said: “The food that Tesco redistributes through FareShare makes a huge difference to people facing food insecurity across the UK.

“We work with thousands of charities and community groups providing essential support to their communities, and receiving a steady stream of food helps them to feed the people who need it most.”

By providing the surplus food to help communities, it is also aiding the environment by ensuring that the food does not end up as landfill.”

Charities and community groups that could benefit from the support of the Community Food Connection scheme can find further information at https://fareshare.org.uk/getting-food/.