Bedford Foodbank gets donation from Tesco as demand surges by 68% in one year

Bedford Foodbank has been given a helping hand by Tesco – as it has seen demand for help soar by almost 70 per cent over the last year.

The emergency support scheme from Tesco, working with the Trussell Trust, means the supermarket has given out more than 730,000 meals to 29 of the food banks across the country facing the most pressure.

Between April 2022 and March 2023, food banks across the Trussell Trust network have distributed almost three million emergency food parcels to people who cannot afford the essentials, with 324,477 of the parcels being provided in the East of England.

And Bedford Foodbank has been giving out over 18 tonnes of stock a month.

Andrea Badman, assistant project manager, at Bedford Foodbank, said: "Between April 2022 and March 2023 we have seen an 68 per cent increase in the number of people coming to the food bank. We have given out over 18 tonnes of stock a month and bought over £93k worth of food and toiletries - so these Tesco donations have been invaluable.

"They have helped us to plan as we know we can order key items and know they are going to arrive so we can continue to provide a service.

“We are extremely grateful to Tesco for once again responding to the needs of our network and helping us to provide urgent support to people in communities across the UK, while we work towards our long-term goal of ending the need for food banks.”

While the retailer’s food donation scheme Community Food Connection runs all year round in all its UK stores this extra effort was led by Tesco Distribution Centres. These huge centres supply every single Tesco store with products for customers every day.

The food banks were able to order food directly at no cost and have that fulfilled by Tesco’s distribution network – meaning they received weekly deliveries of vital items for food parcels, ensuring they could meet the need in their local community.

Andrew Woolfenden, UK Distribution and Fulfilment Director at Tesco, said: “When the Trussell Trust told us it had food banks struggling to meet demand we wanted to find a way we could help them quickly and easily.

“We have a great partnership with the Trussell Trust through our stores and this was a chance for our distribution colleagues to be involved in helping communities.

“They are brilliant at planning the logistics to make these donations easy for food banks so they could receive exactly what they needed most free of charge from Tesco.”

The scheme runs for six months as an emergency provision for the food banks, but Community Food Connection continues in store. More than 100 million meals have been donated from Tesco stores free of charge through its Community Food Connection programme launched in 2016.