A SPECIAL guest joined shoppers in Tesco last night for a trolley dash in support of Salisbury Foodbank.
Father Christmas and his helpers filled trolleys full of around £1,000 worth of toys at the Tesco Extra store on Southampton Road, which will be given out to families in the Salisbury area.
The Tesco managers at stores in the city clubbed together to get funding together for the toys. Five stores in the area, including three in the city centre, Durrington and Ludgershall and Amesbury have been running a toy gift appeal.
Maria Stevenson, the manager at Salisbury Foodbank, said: "It is really great that Father Christmas wanted to support the children. He was really keen and instigated this and wanted to do it again this year to support families in the Salisbury area. Then Tesco got behind it.
"They really grasped hold of the gifting and wanted to contribute in some way. It has snowballed into a toy appeal for us as well. I'm really, truly thankful that our community is coming together to support each other."
She said the support from Tesco's was "amazing", adding: "We are mostly about food and that is what we are known for and will continue to be known for. It just means that we can support those families in an extra special way this year.
"If these families have something to open and it brings a little bit of magic to them then I'm totally happy - that is why we are doing it. If these families cannot afford food how would they be able to afford this. Are they sacrificing food to make sure their families Christmas is magical? If we can provide gifts then they can help feed themselves and we can help provide the gifts."
Shaun Sennett, the manager at Tesco Extra, said: "We wanted to do something different this year and get together as a happy town community of Tesco stores in support of Salisbury Foodbank."
He said after hearing about the projects the charity were doing he said the stores wanted to be a "massive part of that" adding: "Teaming up with the foodbank has been fantastic so far."
Craig Haywood, the manager at Tesco Metro Salisbury, said: "This is the nice part of our jobs to give something back to the community."
Maria says the foodbank has seen numbers increasing and this demand for support is expected to continue. She said it was getting "a lot busier".
"The numbers that have been coming to the door this month probably for the past month have been increasing."
In November, Salisbury Foodbank became an independent charity. To make a donation to support the charity's projects go to its website.
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