Change.org

Having been given the opportunity to donate to people in the local community today via Big Red Boxes outside the supermarket, I was reminded of how passionate I am about the fact that nobody should go hungry.  Being such a foodie, and realising that I can be quite wasteful when it comes to food, I really feel it is important to be able to give back and help those in need. 

I have been aware of food banks for a very long time, but I have noticed that they don't seem to receive a lot of publicity and many people don't know where their local bank is either to donate or to get help.  I certainly don't know where a food bank is near me.

I am thrilled to see that supermarkets (Tesco and Sainsbury's) are donating surplus food and also having volunteers and representatives of the local food banks at the stores to collect any offerings shoppers might want to donate, but I'm not sure that this is enough.

So many people now buy their groceries online and I thought it would be great to be able to donate to a food bank when ordering online.  Either you choose the products you want to donate or you choose an amount you want to donate and the food bank can choose products adding up to this amount based on what they require at any given time.  Doing this means that the customer doesn't have to do anything bar spend a few extra pounds or pence.  The basic ranges of tinned vegetables in nearly all the stores cost little more than 20p per can and these are invaluable to those who cannot afford to eat.

Given this, I have started a petition to get supermarkets to start allowing us to do this and work more closely with food banks to get food to those who really need it.

If you care about this basic right as much as I do, please sign the petition.  https://www.change.org/p/tesco-food-bank-donation-with-your-online-food-shop

Thank you.