Colleagues at Tesco Woolwich Extra have donated hundreds of meals worth of surplus food to Woolwich Service Users Project (WSUP) over the last six months.
WSUP was set up in 2010 and provides hands on support to the local community through a range of free services such as hot meals, haircuts, showers, laundry services and a clothes bank.
The charity is run mainly by volunteers and is a safe space for locals in need of a helping hand.
Twice a week the charity receives a variety of surplus food from the Tesco Extra store and uses it to provide healthy meals for people in need. The donations include essential items like fruit, vegetables, cereal, sugar, tea, coffee and milk.
The charity receives food from Tesco’s Community Food Connection scheme, which is run in partnership with food redistribution charity FareShare.
The Community Food Connection scheme ensures that surplus food from Tesco is given to charities and community groups, whose volunteer members then distribute it to the public.
Across the UK the Community Food Connection scheme redistributes 2 million meals every month.
Ruth, Community Champion at Tesco Woolwich Extra, said:
“The WSUP is really special to us. Their work makes a huge difference to the community and we’re proud to do what we can do to help.
“We’re looking forward continuing our work with them in a variety of ways such as arranging for our maintenance team to visit the charity and help with electrical wiring”
Alexis, Communications Volunteer at WSUP, said:
“WSUP is very grateful to Tesco Woolwich Extra for their support. The generous donations of food over the last six months have made a real difference to some of the most vulnerable people in our local community who are struggling to make ends meet.
“Their kindness in giving us a £280 food voucher towards our Christmas meal meant that we were able to provide food for nearly 100 service users and bring some festive cheer at a time that can be difficult for those who feel isolated and those without a warm, safe home.
“As a small local charity, we rely solely on donations from the community, and we would not exist without the generosity of businesses like Tesco.”
Tesco Woolwich Extra and WSUP have had a close relationship over several years. Along with regular food donations, volunteers from the charity have visited the store to collect money and during the Covid-19 pandemic store manager Prakash personally paid for a hairdresser to give around a month’s worth free haircuts.
