MUCH-NEEDED donations of food have been made to Teignbridge charity HITS from national supermarket chain Lidl.

The company’s Teignmouth store handed over a large amount of frozen food to the HITS foodbank, filling a whole van with produce.

Chairman of HITS trustees David Cox said: ‘ We are extremely grateful for this bumper collection of food, the invaluable support of Lidl to HITS over the years has made a real difference.

Store manager, Tim George said: ‘We were glad to help, we have a good working relationship with HITS Foodbank.’

According to HITS Foodbank manager Richard Waldron, the number of people relying on emergency food parcels shot up during Covid and has never returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Many households are being forced to choose between ‘heating or eating’. 

While faced with this surging demand, Richard says that public food donations have also dropped, leaving stock levels low.

Strong community and business support has meant the foodbank is doing better than many others.

Teignbridge Council’s executive member for voluntary services Cllr Martin Wrigley said: ‘The challenges faced by HITS Foodbank are by no means unique.

‘It’s partnerships like these that are helping people cope.’