Bedfordshire Tesco donates to local foodbank and Children's Trust

Customers and colleagues at a Dunstable, Bedfordshire Tesco Extra store have donated toy hampers to ensure children don't go without a present this Christmas.

Led by Community Champion Karen Linley, the Tesco Dunstable store has been collecting toys to give back to its community and increase donations to Luton Foodbank which then distributes the hampers to local children’s organisation, Pioneer Learning Trust.

The Pioneer Trust is a growing Trust of collaborative schools in Luton. The Trust currently consists of three large primary schools, Chantry Primary Academy, Southfield Primary Academy, and Whitefield Primary Academy. There are approximately 1500 pupils in the Trust taught and supported by around 300 staff.

Jamie Kelly, Lead Practitioner: "We are extremely grateful to the Tesco Dunstable team and Luton Foodbank for all their hard work organising the toy drive collection for our schools.

“We were blown away by the generosity of Tesco staff and customers, especially given it has been another challenging year for so many. There are so many beautiful toys that will go to many local, vulnerable children this Christmas.”

Tesco Dunstable also raised over £2,000 for the Luton Foodbank which will go towards providing Christmas dinner to the families of the children receiving toy hampers.

Karen Linley, Lead Community Champion at the Tesco Dunstable store, said: "We are very proud to work with both the Luton Foodbank and Pioneer Learning Trust. These amazing organisations do so much to support our local community so the least we could do was return the favour this Christmas.”

“We have worked with both organisations several times now and will continue to do so whenever and however we can.”

To find out more about the Pioneer Learning Trust visit www.pioneerlearningtrust.com.

To learn more about Luton Foodbank visit www.lutonfoodbank.org.uk.