Charities and community groups across Cumbria are being invited to receive free surplus food from Tesco this Easter.
Across the UK the supermarket distributes a million meals a month to good causes as part of its Community Food Connection scheme, run in conjunction with food charity FareShare and powered by FoodCloud technology.
Community Food Connection enables some 7,000 charities and community groups to pick up free food from Tesco each week, but some of those groups take a break during school holidays, which means Tesco can offer free surplus food to even more organisations over Easter.
“We know that there are some charities that may offer holiday clubs, or groups that put on special events over the Easter holidays, and it is exactly those sort of groups that we want to hear from,” said Alec Brown, Head of Community at Tesco.
“Whatever time of year it is, we would much rather that unsold food is put to good use in the community, and feeds people first, rather than going to waste.”
The free food includes fresh produce such as fruit, vegetables and bakery products and chilled food like meat, cheese and ready meals. Groups registered with the Community Food Connection are given scheduled collection days and receive a text alert to tell them what food is available. They can then choose what they want from the surplus food on offer.
Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive of FareShare, said: “We support many amazing frontline charities which use in date surplus food from Tesco to feed thousands of vulnerable people right throughout the year. However, some groups, such as children’s breakfast clubs, close over the school holidays, which means there is even more food available – so don’t miss out.”
If you are a charity or community group that could benefit from the support of Community Food Connection this Easter, visit www.fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-go to register.
