Generous Aberdeenshire shoppers thanked for food donations

Tesco shoppers in Aberdeenshire have been given a big thank you after providing more than 6,867 meals to support local food banks and frontline charities.

The 6,867 meals collected at stores in Aberdeenshire between June 30 and July 2 was part of a total of 1.3 million meals donated by generous Tesco shoppers across the UK in large stores, with an additional 20 percent top up added by Tesco.

The items of long-life food donated during the Tesco Food Collection have been shared with food banks in the Trussell Trust’s network and frontline charities supplied with food by FareShare, to help support local people facing hunger.

Shoppers donating cash to the charities by rounding up at the checkouts also gave more than £328,000 during the collection week.

More than 6,867 meals have been provided by Aberdeenshire shoppers. (Pic:Matthew Horwood)

To further help the charities cope with increasing need for food Tesco has expanded its network of permanent food collection points which can now be found in all stores, all year round, so shoppers can continue to help their local food banks and charities to get the food they need. These are now in local Tesco Express stores as well as large stores and are usually located near the checkouts or exit.

Claire de Silva, head of community at Tesco said: “We’re so grateful to our generous customers who kindly do what they can to help their local food banks and charities during our food collection. We hope our year-round donation points, now across our smaller convenience stores too, will provide more ways for people to help by giving if they can”.

FareShare CEO Lindsay Boswell thanked shoppers in Aberdeenshire for their support: “We are immensely grateful to Tesco customers for their generous food and financial donations during the Summer Food Collection. The support we receive from Tesco and its customers will enable FareShare to continue our support of children and families in Aberdeenshire during the summer and beyond.”

Emma Revie, chief executive at the Trussell Trust, added: “The incredible generosity of Tesco customers during the Summer Food Collection will play a vital role in helping food banks in Scotland provide emergency food and support to people facing hardship during this challenging period.”