YORK Food Bank, which has distributed more than 1,500 food parcels since April, has been given a vital food donation top-up from a local supermarket.

The Tesco Extra on Tadcaster Road in York has set up a new service whereby Click & Collect customers can order items they would like to donate - which are then placed in the in-store donation point by staff.

Caroline Macdonald, Community Champion at the store, came up with the idea when the demand on food banks was at a crucial level.

She said: “During the first lockdown, we had several customers ask how they could help support our food donation service. They knew that there was an ever-increasing demand on food banks, but many of our regular customers weren’t able to shop in-store and donate as frequently as they would have done in the past.

“So, we launched our Click & Collect food donation service. Customers simply add items onto their shop, and when they pick up they can point these goods to staff who will then place them in the C&C food bin. The C&C bin is then transferred to the larger in-store donation point at the end of the day.”

Caroline added that the food donation point is delivered to York Food Bank - owned by The Trussell Trust.

Adam Raffell, Manager of York Food Bank, said: “We are hugely grateful for the support we have received from the local Tesco, facilitated by their Community Champion, Caroline Macdonald.

“Since April, we have distributed just over 1500 food packages to over 4000 people in York, and this year is projecting to be the busiest one to date. These additional food items from the Click & Collect initiative, as well as the items provided by shoppers in-store, has been crucial to our operations.”