Tesco is helping to collect donations for The Mayor’s Hope Fund, a new charity for poverty relief set up by the Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson.
The donate at till scheme is being launched on Monday 25 November and will give shoppers at each of Tesco’s 28 outlets in the city the opportunity to add at least £1 to their shopping bill, by scanning a special donation barcode which will be available in store.
All money raised will go to The Mayor’s Hope Fund, a charity set up to aid the relief of poverty in Liverpool and support foodbanks. The Mayor has pledged to kickstart the scheme with a £25,000 donation from the City.
Mayor Joe Anderson said: “The idea for the Hope Fund originates from a special summit held earlier this year at Liverpool Cathedral on Hope Street, in which we were looking at how we could support foodbanks.
“These are tough times for people due to the austerity measures, and as a result demand for our foodbanks is rising month on month.
“I am delighted that Tesco have agreed to come on board and support the Hope Fund. It will provide a huge boost, enabling foodbanks to invest in their infrastructure to meet the increasing need for their services.
“Liverpool people are an inspiration and known for their generosity and I know they’ll come together in the run up to the festive season to make this scheme a success.
“People making a donation of their choice when they are doing their shopping will make a big difference to those in our community who are most in need.”
There are three main centres in Liverpool – in the north, south and centre of the city. They fed almost 7,000 people from April to August 2013 – an 88 percent rise on the same period the previous year.
The Mayor’s Hope Fund will identify specific projects to implement, enhance and grow the level of service that that each foodbank can provide. The money will be used to create storage space and distribution centres, recruit and train volunteer and collect and deliver food.
Michael Kissman, Community Director at Tesco, said: “Food poverty is a real tragedy and we want to do everything we can to help families in need of support.
We hold regular food collections for food banks at our stores in Liverpool and the generous response by local customers has been amazing.
We’re pleased to be building on this by supporting the Mayor’s Hope Fund initiative so we can make an even bigger difference to some of Liverpool’s most vulnerable people.”
People can also text donations to the Hope Fund of £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10. Text LMHF14 followed by the amount to 70070. So, to donate £1, text LMHF14 £1 to 70070.
For more information about The Mayor’s Hope Fund, visit http://themayorshopefund.org.uk
The Mayor’s Hope Fund is a registered charity in England and Wales (1153630).
