CREDITON Tesco held its annual Food Collection recently and, despite the current situation, hundreds of items were donated by a generous Crediton community.

The year 2020 has seen the use of Foodbanks nationally grow almost exponentially and Crediton Foodbank has not escaped this unfortunate trend.

In 2019 the organisation supported 1,859 adults and children and, even before Lockdown 2 was imposed, this figure more than doubled to 3,874. It’s estimated that the second lockdown has increased usage by a further 30 per cent as families have to decide whether to pay their rent or put food on the table.

The Crediton Foodbank runs entirely on the generosity of the local community with regular donation points at Tesco Superstore, Morrisons, The Yellow Bookshop and the "Crediton Courier" office. These are supplemented by larger collection days like the recent Tesco Food collection.

The Foodbank then distributes the items to families that have been referred to them from in and around Crediton.

Crediton Tesco work year round with Crediton Foodbank, hosting a permanent collection point for them, returning items that they have plenty of in exchange for cards to purchase specific items and providing a shopping service so that they can access fresh goods such as meat, eggs and bread so families can have full and healthy meals.

Andrew Drayton, the Community Champion for the Crediton Tesco store, said about the collection: “Whilst the need for foodbanks anywhere is a point of contention, I’ve always been a big fan of the collections that we hold for them. With any charity collection, especially those for larger groups, you always wonder how much of the £1 you donate ends up helping the individuals that are being advocated for. With a food collection you know that, when you buy a tin, packet or bottle to donate, it always ends up in front of someone that needs it.”

Andrew continued: “The circumstances that lead to having to visit the foodbank in the first place are so varied and, in the vast majority of cases, are through no fault of the individual or families that find themselves in this predicament. Redundancies, benefit delays contribute in ‘normal’ times and if you add to that the current situation of furloughing and Covid restrictions, then you can see that absolutely anyone can find themselves needing that helping hand that Crediton Foodbank provide.”

The three-day event yielded hundreds and hundreds of donations of food items and, as had been asked for, loads of Christmas items so that the receiving families can enjoy the festive period.

Chris Parsons, Foodbank Co-ordinator stated: “Crediton Foodbank is so grateful to our local Tesco Superstore for its on-going support throughout the year and particularly for this three-day collection.

"All our regular foodbank users can now be guaranteed a wonderful Christmas hamper complete with Christmas goodies and crackers.

"I would like to thank Andrew Drayton, the Community Champion, especially, who always goes above and beyond. This year has been very different for everyone and some folk are finding things really tough right now as Andrew has said. Thank you, too, to all the people who donate so generously.”

Andrew concluded" “Although, overall, our collection was down a bit this year, this is understandable and we have seen that reflected in the other charity and community work that we have been doing lately.

"What has remained constant though, is the spirit, generous nature and desire to help those around our community that shines through. Crediton has always had, in my experience, a wonderful community atmosphere and events such as our food collection highlight this tremendous humanitarian outlook.”

Chris too, had a final message for everyone: “One concern I have is that there are people in our community who are unaware of the service we offer and are going hungry each month.

"Can I ask everyone to look out for their friends and neighbours and not be afraid to give them my contact details?

"Getting a food voucher from one of our referral agencies is quite difficult at present so I am happy for people to contact me direct to ask for a food parcel on 07740 202721 or email: [email protected] . Thanks again to Tesco for doing such a great job.”