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| Stephen with Store Manage Anthony Jones and staff at Tesco’s |
Stephen Metcalfe, local MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, gave his time this weekend to the nationwide food-drive run by Tesco’s and FareShare to help tackle hunger across the UK.
The Tesco’s at Langdon Hills is one of thousands of stores up and down the country who are joining forces with local communities to support people facing food poverty this Christmas. On entering the store, shoppers are given a special shopping lists to encourage them to buy everyday food items like cereals, rice, instant coffee, tinned food and sauces which can then be redistributed to those in need.
Mr Metcalfe commented: “I’m really pleased to have supported the ‘Million Meal Appeal’ with Tesco’s and FareShare. Each year, FareShare redistributes food to over 700 local grassroots projects in the UK. Last year alone they provided food for 8.6 million meals and helped feed 36,500 people a day.”
“I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Tesco’s, to FareShare and to all local residents at Langdon Hills who have been so generous with their time and money so that the invaluable work of FareShare can continue. It demonstrates how by coming together, we really can make a difference to those in need.”
Research has found that in total, around 10 per cent of people have suffered from some form of food poverty in the last 12 months, with seven per cent of people skipping meals and eight per cent relying on friends or family to provide food. This is a problem that only worsens over the cold Christmas season.
Philip Clarke, Chief Executive of Tesco said: “Tesco feeds more families in the UK than any other supermarket, and we work hard to make sure people can eat well even if they don’t have a lot of money. This Christmas, we want to use our scale and our links with communities across the country to help tackle this growing problem.”
“We recently held some local food collections and were overwhelmed by the support from our customers, who have shown incredible generosity. I hope they’ll support the biggest ever food collection in the UK and help us to feed hundreds of thousands of people in need.”
