AS the school summer holidays approach, Tesco is providing extra help to support children and their families facing hunger this summer.

This comes in response to the crucial need to support children who would normally receive free school meals during term time and are therefore at risk of missing meals during the holiday period.

Trussell says food bank support for children remains 34 per cent higher than before the pandemic, including a 24 per cent increase in the number of emergency food parcels for children under 5.

A recent survey carried out by Felix, the new name for the merged charities FareShare the The Felix Project which found that 41 per cent of local charities receiving food via its nationwide food redistribution network have experienced an increase in demand in the last 12 months. For a further 13 per cent demand for food support had more than doubled in the last 12 months due to the cost of living pressures.

This summer, until August 16 in Scotland and NI and July 20 to August 30 in England and Wales, Tesco will sell its pre-filled food donation bags in all large stores. The bags, which typically cost between two pound and four pounds, contain healthy and nutritious long-life food essentials and can be picked up in store and paid for at the checkout.

The donated items go directly to Felix and Trussell, who will distribute it to charities and food banks to help families who need it most across the UK.

Last summer, food banks in the Trussell community supported around 354,000 people with emergency food, 124,000 of whom were children, and the charity expects to see continued high levels of need this summer.

The support through the summer holidays comes in addition to Tesco’s Free Fruit and Veg for Schools programme which currently supports more than 500 schools across the UK during term time, helping children access fruit and vegetables during the school day and encouraging healthier eating habits from an early age.

The sypermarket’s ambition is to help one million school children across the UK access free fruit and vegtables through Tesco school and community programmes by July 2029.

It is providing funding to schools to buy fruit and veg through its Free Fruit and Veg for Schools and Fruit and Veg Grant programmes.

From Monday 3 to Sunday August 9, customers will have the chance to round up their bill at the end of the checkut to the nearest pound with the funds being split between Felix and Trussell to support their work over the summer.

Online customers will also be able to make a monetary donation through an online giving link on Tesco’s grocery home shopping website as they check out. Last year, generous Tesco shoppers donated just over £299,000.

For families shopping in store, the supermarket will also be running its Kids Eat Free scheme in its 317 cafés across the UK over the school summer holidays.

This year it’s been expanded to run for longer across all regions of the UK and now includes weekends. The supermarket’s cafés will be offering one free Kids Hot Meal Deal, Kids Breakfast or Kids Pick ‘n’ Mix deal with each item brought by an adult from as little as 60p, when showing their Tesco Clubcard or Clubcard App at the till.

Tesco is also bringing back Free Fruit for Kids the summer. From July 20 to August 30, children will be able to pick up free apples at checkouts in more than 800 large Tesco stores and 77 of its large Express stores. Click and Collect customers will also be given free apples for their children at selected stores.

Christine Heffeman, Chief Communications and Sustainability Officer at Tesco, said: “We want to be able to support our charity partners to help those needing a little extra