Food bank volunteers to stage supermarket collection

Volunteers from Southport Foodbank will be collecting food at Tesco Extra, Town Lane, Kew from 9 am until 6 pm on Saturday 15th July.

Southport food bank manages 6 outlets in the Southport and Formby area and helps local communities by providing emergency food to thousands of people every year. The charity works with members of the public donating non-perishable food, which is then sorted and packed by volunteers into emergency food parcels.

The foodbank already has set up permanent food collection points across many of the supermarkets in Southport and Formby including Asda, Waitrose and Tesco Extra. Since its launch in the Spring of 2013, the community has donated over 160,000 meals to help feed people in crisis.

The charity handed out a record number of parcels at the beginning of the year after the introduction of the benefits cap, leaving claimants unable to afford meals when their benefits were delayed and reduced. Families have been hit by the new cap and changes in benefits legislation and therefore there is an increase on those dependent on the charity. As a result, Southport Foodbank has run short of dry foods, cans, jars and fresh vegetables and has not been able to fill parcels and provide as much help as they used to.