Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge Foodbank has thanked shoppers who visited the town’s Tesco Store at the weekend to donate an incredible 1,712.82kg of food.
The annual Food Collection is supported by Tesco as a part of their ongoing effort to encourage customers to donate long-life food to charity.
Foodbank Chair, Bev Milner Simonds, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “This was our largest ever collection at the local Tesco store and our thanks go to the many hundreds of customers who donated food to help local families in crisis this winter. The demand for Foodbank support has not deminished and this food will be rapidly turned around and distributed.”
“We want to thank Catherine, the Tesco Community Champion, and our volunteers. Together they spent many hours collecting and packing up the food before our volunteer drivers collected it and took it back to our storage facility at the Methodist Church.”
Following the Food Collection, Tesco tops up the customers’ donations by 20%, which helps the Foodbank to feed even more people in need in the local area.
They report back to The Trussell Trust on total weight collected and they redistribute the top-up cash to local Foodbanks to purchase items of food and help with day-to-day running costs.
The Highbridge and Burnham-On-Sea Foodbank provide three days of emergency food to individuals and families in crisis.
Frontline professional agencies like the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, MacMillan Nurses and children centres refer people who are facing a crisis to them.
The people visiting are welcomed, listened to and signposted to other services that are able to provide further support, helping to break the cycle of poverty.
By donating food you can help support local people in crisis in a simple practical way.
Items can be dropped in at the Foodbank at Asda in Highbridge or Tesco in Burnham-On-Sea during opening hours (for items bought in store) or directly to the Foodbank in Highbridge at Hope Baptist Church on a Thursday morning (9.30am-12.30pm), St John’s Church in Highbridge on a Wednesday morning (10am-11.30am) or the Methodist Church in College Street, Burnham on a Tuesday or Saturday morning (10am-12pm).
The following items are always welcomed: Tinned meat, Tinned fish, Tinned vegetables, Tinned fruit, Pasta sauces, Instant coffee, Milk (UHT or powdered), Fruit juice (long life), Tinned pudding, Jam, Instant mash potato. If you are given toiletries at Christmas that are unwanted, please add these to your donation at either church.
