SHOPPERS at a major supermarket have been thanked after donating 13,481 meals to feed people in Cornwall during the most recent collection.

During the annual Tesco Food Collection at the end of November, local shoppers donated packets, tins and boxes to help local branches of the Trussell Trust and FareShare in their vital work.

The company topped up all customer donations to the collection by 20%.

Tesco’s Head of Community Claire De Silva thanked those in Cornwall who supported the annual collection during what had been a particularly challenging year.

She added: “With most of the UK in lockdown holding the collection was always going to be a challenge, but once again we have been amazed by the generosity of our Cornwall customers – and the fact that we have now collected more than a million meals nationally is amazing.

“We know that every single can, jar or packet donated is helping someone who needs support this winter. We are immensely proud of the vital support our customers and colleagues have been able to give to the two charities in these very challenging times”

The food collections ran for three days in large stores from November 19-21.

Phoebe Ruxton, Head of Development at FareShare South West, said: “This year has been so difficult for so many people and FareShare has seen demand for our food skyrocket. We continue to provide over two million meals per week to vulnerable communities across the UK, and 90% of the organisations we work with expect demand to remain the same as at peak crisis levels, or even increase through the winter.

“We are immensely grateful to every single person in Cornwall who donated food during this year’s Tesco Food Collection.”

Food banks in the Trussell Trust’s network are expected to provide a food parcel every nine seconds this winter, while FareShare is supplying more than double the food that it did before the pandemic to 11,000 frontline charities and community groups feeding people across the UK.

Shoppers who were unable to donate in store during the Tesco Food Collection can still show their support for the two charities by donating Tesco Clubcard vouchers or money. More details are available at https://www.tesco.com/zones/supporting-charities-and-communities