BOURNEMOUTH customers donated thousands of meals to this year's Tesco Winter Food Collection for FareShare and the Trussell Trust.

In Bournemouth, the collection saw customers donate 6,380 meals to make a difference in their community.

Donations from the Trussell Trust help food banks provide emergency food parcels to people who cannot afford the essentials, while donations to FareShare support thousands of frontline local charities.

The Trussell Trust expects to distribute one food parcel every eight seconds over the next three months, with 32,000 people needing access to a food bank- the most ever for this period.

Meanwhile, FareShare has over 1,500 frontline charities on their waiting lists seeking food to help them provide meals for people facing hunger this winter.

Tesco CEO Ken Murphy said: "The generosity of our customers is truly amazing.

"At a time when people are facing financial strain, they still went out of their way to support our charity partners.

"From a single carton of long-life milk to a whole trolley of items, every customer who donated helped us to make this one of the most successful Winter Food Collections ever."

In addition, Bournemouth customers donated more than £300,000 to the charities by rounding up their bills at the till.

Tesco also provides its unsold food to FareShare, and together, Tesco and its customers have given the equivalent of more than 39 million meals to both charities in the past year.

George Wright, Chief Executive at FareShare, said: "With so many people struggling to afford essentials this winter, it's really uplifting to see that Tesco customers have donated so much food to help people facing hunger in the community.

"Not only did they donate food, but many of them also donated their time by volunteering in store to help us collect items this year too."

Emma Revie, CEO of the Trussell Trust, added: "People's generosity never fails to amaze me, and it is wonderful to see that once again, communities and Tesco stores across the UK have come together to support their local food banks and ensure that they can be there for everyone who needs them this winter."