YORK'S Liberal Jewish Community has collected more than £2,000 worth of items for York Foodbank from generous shoppers at a city supermarket.

The Mitzvah Day grocery collection took place last weekend at Sainsbury’s Foss Bank – site of a medieval Jewish cemetery.

Shoppers donated tuna, tampons, soup and sticky toffee puddings, along with dozens of packets of UHT milk, cereals, pasta, rice and hundreds of tins of soup and sauces.

They will go to help all those struggling across the city - regardless of faith - this Christmas, said Jay Prosser, the organiser of Mitzvah Day York -a day when over 40,000 Jews around the world do a good deed (“mitzvah”), to give something back to the communities in which they live.

 “The generosity of the people of York giving so much at Sainsbury’s was truly humbling, especially when so many are having to tighten their belts at the moment," said Jay. "The day showed what a compassionate city York is."

Lilian Coulson, Chair of York Liberal Jewish Community, said:"It is amazing what we can all achieve when we work together and, especially approaching Christmas and the winter, people were consciously wanting to give to others in greater need than themselves."