Tesco says: THANK YOU NORTHERN IRELAND   

90,000 meals donated to NI FareShare Charity

Tesco has issued a message of thanks to all its Northern Ireland customers who supported last week’s National Food Collection by donating almost 90,000 meals to food charities, the Trussell Trust and FareShare, making this the biggest event ever.

On the 5th and 6th July, Tesco customers were encouraged to pick up an extra item of food from a selected shopping list and donate it at the end of their shop. Tesco then topped up all donations by 30%.

FareShare is a unique charity fighting hunger by redistributing surplus food to 60 local Northern Ireland charities ranging from homeless shelters and women’s refuges to children’s breakfast clubs and luncheon clubs for the elderly.

Donations in store by Tesco customers help the charity to get hold of cupboard essentials to complement the fresh produce it receives from the food industry.  By ensuring good food is not wasted FareShare helps to feed thousands of people every day across the UK.

The collection also supported the Trussell Trust whose 9 Northern Ireland foodbanks provide three days of emergency food to individuals and families in crisis.

Brendan Guidera, Operations Director Tesco Northern Ireland said, “To all our generous customers in Northern Ireland, we say a huge Thank You.  This is the UK’s biggest food collection event and with your help, we collected enough food for almost 90,000 families, eldery people and children facing crisis, many through no fault of their own.  Northern Ireland people have a big heart and we are privileged to be able to tap into this to support these charities.”

In total, across the UK, the collection, coupled with a 30% top up by Tesco, gave enough food to provide 3.5million meals to those in difficulty.

This is the second food collection event run with Tesco for Trussell Trust & FoodShare, with the next one scheduled in the busy pre-Christmas period in December.