Charities are urging Romford residents to donate food at large Tesco branches to help provide for families in crisis this summer.

Tesco's summer food collection will be held from today (July 15) to July 17 in aid of charitable food redistributors FareShare and food bank charity The Trussell Trust.

Upon arriving at the shops, customers will be encouraged to buy an item from a list that will be handed to them at the door.

It will detail the most-needed products by residential food banks and FareShare, and all donations can be dropped into trollies at the exit.

The supermarket will also be adding a 20 per cent top up to the value of every donation made.

Chief executive of The Trussell Trust, Emma Revie, said: “No one should face the indignity of needing emergency food.

“Yet our UK-wide network of food banks gave out a record 2.5 million emergency food parcels in the last year – with more than 980,000 of these provided for children. This isn’t right.”

She added that donating to the food collection will help Romford food banks provide the “best possible start” to families in crisis while working towards a future where everyone has enough for essentials.

Additionally, the smaller Tesco Express stores will be collecting donations from July 12 to August 28 in Romford.