Galway Lions Club and Tesco Ireland are asking shoppers to make a big difference to someone’s Christmas by donating a food item during a two-day Christmas Food Appeal, which will take place on Friday November 27 and Saturday November 28 in Tesco stores in Ballinasloe, Newcastle, Headford Road, and Oranmore.
A total of 2,574 meals were donated by Galway shoppers in 2014, and this year the appeal is hoping to build on this success and support as many families as possible by providing hampers of non-perishable food items in the run-up to Christmas.
During the two day appeal, a ‘shopping list’ with suggested non-perishable food items will be available to all customers as they enter their local Tesco store. Top of the list are tea bags, biscuits, breakfast cereals, and tinned goods, with shoppers urged to add an item to their shopping basket and pop it in to the Lions Club trolley at the front of the store on their way out.
"The generosity we saw last year was wonderful, especially considering the pressure people are under at this time of year," said Lions Food Appeal co-ordinator Joe Smith. "Having seen the difference these food hampers can make to families, we are determined to collect even more this year so that we can reach as many people as possible and give them a little help this Christmas. Every item really does go a long way, be it teabags or a packet of biscuits, so please pop in and donate what you can.”
Shoppers can donate one or more items including tea bags and instant coffee, biscuits, sugar, butter, breakfast cereals, tinned goods such as vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, pasta and pasta sauces, rice and rice pudding, jam, soft drinks, sweet treats, selection boxes, and Christmas cake, in their local Tesco store.
All food collected during the appeal will be sorted by Lions Club volunteers and used to create food hampers for people in the local community who are struggling to provide for themselves or their families. With 115 Lions clubs spread throughout the country, volunteers from each area will work to see these food parcels distributed to those who need it most in time for Christmas by sharing the donations directly with local families or forwarding the parcels to some of the charitable organisations they support each year, such as St Vincent de Paul.
“Last year our customers and colleagues were overwhelming in their generosity donating over €200,000 worth of food for families," said Christine Heffernan, corporate affairs director with Tesco Ireland. "We really hope to see much of the same this year, with everyone supporting this wonderful, and crucial, cause. We are really proud to be able to partner with the Lions Club again on such an important initiative.”
To support the Christmas Food Appeal and give a little help to families in need, visit your local Tesco store on Friday November 27 or Saturday November 28 between 11am and 6pm and make a food donation.
