CUSTOMERS at a Whitchurch supermarket have been praised for taking part in a campaign to provide meals to children living in food insecurity.

Over the last three weeks, Tesco has given a donation for every piece of fruit and vegetable purchased across all its stores, to provide food that its partner FareShare will redistribute to children's charities.

Sales of fruit and vegetable mean that 5,000 charities across the country will now be given food to help the 2.3 million children in the UK living in food insecurity.

The warm summer weather saw bumper purchases of strawberries, cucumbers and bananas, allowing Tesco to exceed its target of providing three million meals-worth of food to help charities and community groups supplied by FareShare.

'Buy One to Help a Child' is the latest in a number of Tesco community focussed programmes aimed at building stronger communities across the UK.

FareShare chief executive officer, Lindsay Boswell CBE, said the food would make a real difference to frontline charities working with children, and thanked Tesco customers for their support.

"During the summer months, many families can struggle without the safety net of free school meals," he said.

"At FareShare, we work with a network of around 10,500 charities and community groups supporting children and families across the UK.

"With so many more people facing tough circumstances as a result of the pandemic, this food is needed more than ever.

"Thank you to every single Tesco customer in Shropshire that made a purchase during this campaign – through the simple act of buying your fruit and veg at Tesco, you're helping FareShare to get fresh, healthy food to children across the UK."

Jason Tarry, Tesco UK and Ireland chief executive officer, added: "We wanted to find a really simple way to do our bit and help our customers do the same, and we are delighted at the success of the Buy One to Help A Child scheme.

"By encouraging healthier choices for our customers while helping to feed children through our partnership with FareShare we can play our part in supporting stronger communities."