Tesco has reaffirmed its commitment to Marcus Rashford's Food Poverty Taskforce and will continue to support his campaign for free school meals for every child that needs them, at any time.
In addition to its work alongside Marcus and the other members of the Taskforce, Tesco will continue its wider work to help families, who are facing hardship due to the pandemic, to put healthy, nutritious food on their tables.
For families facing hardship there are a number of schemes and organisations that can provide help. These include:
1. The Tesco Healthy Start Coupon that provides an additional £1 coupon for extra fruit and vegetables for Healthy Start customers
2. Free School Meal vouchers which are accepted in all Tesco stores. Free School Meal vouchers are provided during school holidays to the families of children who normally qualify for free school meals during term time
3. Healthy Start vouchers which are accepted in all Tesco stores. Healthy Start is a government scheme to improve the health of low-income pregnant women and families on benefits and tax credits. Under the scheme, eligible families are provided with vouchers every week to spend on milk, fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables, fresh, dried, and tinned pulses, and infant formula milk
4. Families can find emergency support in their local area here https://endchildfoodpoverty.org/help
5. FareShare who work with 11,000 charities to provide food to those who need it. Families needing support can find more information here https://fareshare.org.uk/getting-food/food-service-for-individuals/ . Charities can register their interest at https://fareshare.org.uk/getting-food/
6. The Trussell Trust which runs a network of foodbanks providing food and support to families and individuals who need it. More information on the help that is available can be found here https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/
7. Tesco Bags of Help scheme will continue to support thousands of families and charity groups in communities across the UK with funding needed to provide food and resources
8. Families can download a free cookbook from Biteback that will help them put together five healthy lunchtime recipes from a shopping list that costs less than £15 [the value of free school meal vouchers] https://biteback2030.com/campaign/free-cook-jack-e-cookbook
Jason Tarry, Tesco UK & ROI CEO, said, “Many families, particularly those with young children, are facing particular hardship as a result of the pandemic and finding it hard to put food on the table.
'By working together with our partners we can help to get healthy, nutritious food to those who need it. We therefore remain 100% committed to the Food Poverty Taskforce and to our charity partners who provide food banks and community groups with vital supplies.”
Marcus Rashford said, 'When I formed the Child Food Poverty Taskforce, I understood that there was real power in unity and strength in numbers. We have been able to demonstrate that, regardless of competitor business, we will stand together on issues such as child hunger. That’s powerful, and it’s necessary as there is still so much more work to be done.
'I’ve been blown away by how members have stepped up to the plate to support our most vulnerable children with access to vital food sources and Tesco has really gone above and beyond. The supermarket’s commitment to change and to community is evident for all to see and I can’t thank them enough for their support.”
In October last year, Tesco donated an additional £4million of food to FareShare to support it through the current period of record demand. Combined with its regular food donations through its Community Food Connection scheme, Tesco has made food donations worth more than £60m in the last year. Earlier this year, the supermarket provided £15m of food to FareShare and the Trussell Trust to support those who needed help at the start of the pandemic.