Gloucestershire locals urged to help struggling families on UN food loss day

Gloucestershire residents are urged to help their local food banks on Thursday 29 September as part of the United Nations’ International Day of Food Loss and Waste. Foodbanks provide a much-needed to service to people struggling with their daily costs including food. Gloucester Foodbank is one of many foodbanks in the county, which provided more than 8,800 emergency food parcels during 2021 and 2022, while Tewkesbury Foodbank alone estimates it gave food valued at nearly £23,000 to local residents last year alone.

The charity BanktheFood has provided local people with a completely free app to help local people donate, allowing them to see what their local community food banks need most urgently. The app sends its users a list of much-needed supplies when they arrive at a supermarket, allowing them to know more easily what they should donate to their local food bank at a designated donation station.

BanktheFood’s co-founder Emma Spring says, “It’s such a simple way to genuinely help the people around you who are struggling and need help now more than ever. The app means people using food banks get a balance of what they need. It would be great if everyone donated just one thing. Each donation will put food on someone’s table, possibly the same day.”

BanktheFood has also produced a handy list of five top tips for donating to food banks:

Always check the use-by dates as foodbanks aren’t allowed to distribute food that is out of date.

Packaging must be in a good, unopened and undamaged condition.

Foodbanks often need non-food items such as toiletries, sanitary products, and pet food.

Try to find out what your local food bank urgently needs.

Food banks need long-lasting cupboard storable foods that don’t necessarily require an oven such as rice, pasta, lentils, pulses, tinned and dehydrated foods, dried fruits, UHT and powdered milk, cereals, biscuits, spreads, and hot drinks like tea, coffee, and hot chocolate.

 

BanktheFood W: www.bankthefood.org/

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