Tesco customers buying fruit or vegetables in Wokingham will be helping to support children living in food insecurity.
The scheme runs until Sunday, April 3, Tesco will give a donation when customers top up their trollies with healthy fruit and vegetables in store, such as its Finchampstead Road branch, or at Tesco.com during the supermarket’s Buy One to Help a Child event.
A 2p donation will be made from sales of fresh fruit and vegetables and excludes prepared, dried, frozen or tinned fruit.
As well as on packs, the donation applies to purchases of single pieces of fruit and veg, for example an avocado.
The money donated by Tesco from sales of all types of fruit and vegetables will enable its food redistribution charity partner FareShare to help thousands of children’s charities who rely on regular donations to help families and young people in communities get the food and help they need.
Last summer, the Tesco Buy One to Help a Child event saw many customers supporting the campaign by buying produce every time they shopped.
Across the county the campaign saw 11,902 meals’ worth of food donated, supporting 17 frontline charities working with children and families.
Lindsay Boswell, CEO of FareShare, which has worked with Tesco since 2016 to redistribute over 130 million meals of the supermarket’s surplus food to date, said the donation would make a real difference to frontline charities working with children, and thanked Tesco customers.
“The Tesco Buy One to Help a Child campaign makes such a difference to us because it helps us to support children and families in Wokingham during the school holidays,” he said.
“So many of the children we provide food for would normally rely on free school meals during term-time, but they do not get access to this support during the holidays.
“Supporting the needs of children early in their life is very important to FareShare as we see what a difference access to healthy food can make in young people’s lives.
“In our 10th year of partnership, we are very grateful for Tesco and their ongoing commitment to help FareShare redistribute good-to-eat food to thousands of charities across the UK.”
Jason Tarry, Tesco UK and ROI CEO, said: “FareShare do amazing work supporting frontline charities, and the food they distribute is making a real difference to young people and families in every part of the UK.
“Every time Tesco customers put a piece of fruit in their basket until April 3, Tesco will make a donation to FareShare, giving a little extra help to support them in their vital work, ensuring even more children can enjoy healthy and nutritious food.”
Tesco is a member of the Child Poverty Task Force, formed by Marcus Rashford, and continues to support his campaign for free school meals for every child who needs them, at any time.
