Christmas came early for Worcester Foodbank as generous shoppers at two city supermarkets donated almost three-and-a-half tonnes of supplies.
Customers at Tesco in St Peter’s and Warndon showed plenty of festive goodwill as they gifted food and other essentials during a three-day collection by the foodbank at the two stores.
It formed part of an annual nationwide collection at Tesco stores, involving foodbanks from across the Trussell Trust network. The charity’s foodbanks are braced for their busiest ever winter and collectively expect to provide one food parcel every eight seconds.
Pressure has already been mounting on the city’s foodbank which has had to contend with a 40 per cent rise in referrals during the first 10 months of the year.
Ruth Allsopp, Operations Coordinator at Worcester Foodbank, said volunteers had been buoyed by the incredible support of shoppers.
“Tesco shoppers have delivered the goods again with another fabulous response to our collection,” Ruth said.
“We’re enormously grateful to everyone who has supported us – not just during those three days but across what has been the most demanding year we’ve faced. People’s generosity is an essential ingredient in our efforts to ensure no one goes hungry this Christmas or throughout the winter.”