Volunteers Needed to Help Collect Food Donations


Hammersmith among Tesco stores taking part in FareShare Food Collection

Volunteers are urgently needed in a number of local Tesco Metro stores from Thursday November 27 to Saturday November 29 to help collect food donations across the capital for people in need this winter.

The collections are for food redistribution charity FareShare who with foodbank charity The Trussell Trust are part of Tesco’s Neighbourhood Food Collection; the biggest national food drive to help people in poverty.

This is Tesco’s fifth Neighbourhood Food Collection which aims to collect enough food in stores across the UK to feed vulnerable and hungry people this winter. There are dedicated stores for customers to donate food to FareShare, who will redistribute the food to over 1700 charities across the UK. There also dedicated stores for customers to donate food to The Trussell Trust’s UK-wide network of foodbanks.

Customers at the following Tesco Metro stores across London will be given a shopping list when they enter the store and asked to donate items of food such as tins of meat, fish, pies, soup, vegetables and fruit, pasta, rice, cooking sauces, tea, coffee and long life milk at the end of their shopping trips.

The Tesco Metro stores include Hammersmith, Ealing Broadway and Acton and Wimbledo as well as other nearby locations including Portobello Road, Paddington, Notting Hill Gate, Kensington, Edgware Road and Richmond.

The food will then be delivered to FareShare London’s Regional Centre who will redistribute it to local charities and community projects across London supporting vulnerable people. Projects that benefit from the food donated include breakfast and afterschool clubs for vulnerable children, homeless hostels, lunch clubs for the elderly and local health charities.

Over 1700 charities across the UK receive surplus food from FareShare, which saves each charity around £13,000, allowing them to reinvest in life-changing services for vulnerable people across the country.

Catherine Buglass, Development Manager for FareShare London Regional Centre says: " As a volunteer you can really make a difference to the amount of food we collect in the London Tesco Neighbourhood Food Collection to help people through our charity members.

" Each volunteer can help us collect enough food for 500 meals in just 3 hours. The more volunteers we have the more food we can collect to help reach more people in need.

" It really is a fun and rewarding experience to be involved in one of the biggest food drives in the UK and it is something that you can do with your family, friends and local community."

To volunteer at the Neighbourhood Food Collection in London with FareShare, register at the website

Alternatively email Nicola.ledsham@fareshare.org.uk or polly.hofmann@fareshare.org or call please call 020 7394 2474.

 

November 20, 2014