THE annual Neighbourhood Food Collection was held at Crediton’s Tesco store at Wellparks from Thursday, November 29 to Saturday, December 1.

Andrew Drayton, community champion for the Crediton store said: "The collection was very successful as always, customers have been very generous and we collected 147 boxes of food, each containing nine kilograms of produce.

"It’s a community event and we’re so pleased to have volunteers from Crediton Lions, Crediton Rotary, The Turning Tides Project and Amber to help with the collection.

"Two other organisations also benefitted from the collection, The Amber Foundation based at Chawleigh which supports homeless and unemployed people and The Turning Tides Project now based at Crediton Station Tearooms.

"We work with Crediton Foodbank all-year-round, they are a brilliant organisation."

The fundraising manager of The Amber Foundation, Rebecca Fry, said "Everyone at Amber is blown away by the generosity of Crediton Tesco customers and we want to thank everyone who donated and the staff at Tesco for organising the collection.

"The donations will make a huge difference to our young residents this Christmas who have been trapped in a cycle of homelessness and unemployment and often have no one else to turn to.”

Dominic Palfreman of The Turning Tides Project said: "Over the last few years it has been great to work with Andrew Drayton and the local Tesco superstore, we are very lucky as a community to have such an engaging and positive presence in Crediton.

"The Food Bank Collection is a perfect example of local businesses, both profit making and non-profit making, working together with the generous local community to make a difference!

"Thank you to those that hosted, staffed, donated or contributed in any way - it is greatly appreciated - we are proud to be a part of this community."

Figures from the Crediton Foodbank show the need for the collection is greater than ever. The number of food parcels given out by the Foodbank between January and August of this year has doubled compared to the same period in 2017. It is also the length of time that families are having to take donations that is increasing with nearly 50 per cent taking more than three parcels and a third taking more than five!

Chris Parsons, the Crediton Foodbank co-ordinator and community support worker, said: "Crediton Foodbank would like to thank all the Tesco’s customers who generously donated food this year.

The day before the collection our shelves were almost empty and it was wonderful to see the boxes being delivered.

"We can now ensure that the people who have to use us in December will have food to put on their tables and that includes many families with children.

"A big thank you goes out to Tesco staff, particularly John Smith and Andrew Drayton, for organising everything and for spending long hours on their feet!

"Thank you too to all the people from the churches, the wider community and other organisations who helped give out shopping lists and take in the food.

"It was an amazing collection this year."

The Crediton Foodbank takes its referrals from a variety of organisations who are dealing directly with those in need of support and, for the Crediton area these are; CHAT, Citizens Advice, Crediton Library and Crediton’s doctors’ surgeries.

Permanent collection points are situated at The Yellow Bookshop, The Tesco Superstore, the Crediton Courier and Crediton Foodbank.