GENEROUS customers donated thousands of meals to this year’s Tesco Winter Food Collection at the supermarket’s Kingsteignton store.

Donations provided much-needed support for FareShare and the Trussell Trust.

At the Kingsteignton Tesco, its collection saw customers donate 3,833 meals to make a difference in their community.

In addition to donations of food, the pre-Christmas Winter Food Collection saw Teignbridge customers help towards donating more than £300,000 to the charities by rounding up their bills at the till and donating through a link from Tesco’s online groceries website.

Donations to the Trussell Trust help food banks provide emergency food parcels to people who cannot afford the essentials, while donations to FareShare support thousands of frontline local charities.

Tesco CEO Ken Murphy said: ‘The generosity of our customers is truly amazing. At a time when people are facing financial strain, they still went out of their way to support our charity partners.

‘From a single carton of long-life milk to a whole trolley of items, every customer who donated helped us to make this one of the most successful Winter Food Collections ever.’

Tesco also provides its unsold food to FareShare and altogether Tesco and its customers have given the equivalent of more than 39 million meals to both charities in the past year.

George Wright, Chief Executive at FareShare, said: ‘With so many people struggling to afford basic essentials this winter, it’s really uplifting to see that Tesco customers have donated so much food to help people facing hunger in the community.

‘Not only did they donate food, but many of them also donated their time by volunteering in store to help us collect much needed items this year too.

‘Thank you to everyone that donated food, money or time this year – your generosity will ensure we can continue getting vital food to the people that need it most this Christmas.’

Emma Revie, CEO of the Trussell Trust added: ‘People’s generosity never fails to amaze me and it is wonderful to see that once again communities and Tesco stores across the UK have come together to support their local food banks and ensure that they can be there for everyone who needs them this winter.

‘Every item that is donated will make a real difference to addressing the urgent levels of need this winter.’

With both charities continuing to need support, Newton Abbot shoppers can continue to donate food at permanent collection points at every Tesco store in the UK.