The 'Buy One to Help a Child' initiative aims to provide up to three million meals and is supported by Marcus Rashford.
Tesco customers in Swindon and the rest of the UK can now help to provide meals to children in need, this Summer. The charity initiative will run from 19 July - 8 August.
This FareShare scheme will mean that every time a customer purchases fresh fruit or vegetables, Tesco will donate to the charity organisation. The three-week campaign aims to provide up to three million meals for Tesco’s charity partner FareShare to redistribute to charities and community groups supporting children.
Campaigner Marcus Rashford MBE said: "We all have a role to play in the community and I’m so grateful to Tesco for stepping up to support vulnerable children and families through a difficult time. While collectively we have made progress, numbers are continuing to rise of children going without meals.
“The Buy One to Help a Child campaign will make a huge difference to the thousands of families who are struggling at the moment to put food on the table.”
Tesco is a member of the Child Poverty Task Force, formed by Marcus Rashford, and continues to support his campaign for free school meals for every child in need.
It is estimated that 2.3million children in the UK currently live in households that have experienced food insecurity within the past 6 months. This situation is said to have only worsened during the pandemic.
The 'Buy One to Help a Child' scheme builds on Tesco’s existing food redistribution programme with FareShare, which last year saw Tesco provide more than 29 million meals of surplus food.
FareShare Chief Executive Lindsay Boswell CBE said: "In the last year, FareShare has doubled the amount of food we’re providing to people struggling to get enough to eat. While the lockdown may be easing, we know that food insecurity remains high.
“That’s why we are so pleased to see Tesco and its customers helping us to support children who need it. It will make a huge difference to so many people that have been affected by the pandemic."
Since starting work with FareShare in 2016, Tesco estimates that it has redistributed more than 120million meals of food to charities and community groups across the UK. FareShare works to support frontline charities and groups working with children. This includes summer holiday clubs, breakfast clubs, community kitchens and groups that supply food parcels to those facing food insecurity.
'Buy One to Help a Child' is the latest in a number of community-focussed programmes in Tesco’s community programmes, which aims to help in the building of stronger communities across the UK.
Jason Tarry, Tesco UK and ROI CEO, said: “We wanted to find a really simple way to do our bit and help our customers do the same. We hope Buy One to Help A Child will encourage healthier choices for our customers at the same time as helping to feed children who need it most, so we can continue to help support the communities in which we live and work.”
More information can be found at https://www.tesco.com/zones/every-little-helps
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