A community group which supports vulnerable families and individuals is being aided in its vital work thanks to food donations from Tesco.
Having started out giving soups to families in need and homeless people in the Ilford area, the team from the Chabad Lubavitch Centre, Gants Hill has been able to build upon its efforts with help from the supermarket to hand out food parcels too.
The centre and its kitchen have had to close, but the team is still able to hand out food parcels using surplus food donated via the supermarket’s Community Food Connection scheme run with food charity FareShare.
It has also seen an increase in those needing food parcels due to isolation and lockdown which has meant there is even more demand.
Graham Nygate, co-ordinating volunteer of this project, was keen to thank the people from Tesco who are supporting the centre’s efforts.
“All of the Tesco staff that I have been in contact with have been exemplary in their manner and support,” he said.
“At Tesco in Barkingside, Vanessa in customer services is immediately on the tannoy when she sees me walk in and Ima, who oversees the charity donations for me on a Wednesday evening, is brilliant.”
The Chabad Lubavitch Centre is just one of thousands of food banks, charities and community groups across the UK being supported in their work amid the Covid-19 crisis thanks to donations from the supermarket chain.
In addition to its usual supplies of surplus food to charities and community groups Tesco is providing an additional £15m of food to support charities supplied by FareShare and foodbanks that are part of the Trussell Trust’s network.
That is part of a £30m package of support from the company to aid charities and voluntary groups in their response to the crisis.
It also includes a £1m cash donation to the Trussell Trust and FareShare to support their running costs, a £2m donation to the British Red Cross and a £2m pot from its Bags of Help community donation scheme to support local charities and community groups supporting vulnerable people with £500 grants.
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