TESCO shoppers in Blackburn and across East Lancashire have the chance to help provide free meals to children thanks to a new scheme.

The Buy One to Help A Child campaign will see Tesco, which has branches on Hill Street, Bank Top, Whalley New Road and Livesey Branch Road, make a donation for every piece of fresh fruit and vegetables bought.

The supermarket chain is a member of the Child Poverty Task Force, formed by Marcus Rashford, and says that the scheme will run across its English stores until August 8.

Rashford said: "We all have a role to play in the community and I’m so grateful to Tesco for stepping up to support vulnerable children and families through a difficult time.

"Whilst collectively we have made progress, numbers are continuing to rise of children going without meals.

"The Buy One to Help a Child campaign will make a huge difference to the thousands of families who are struggling at the moment to put food on the table."

The supermarket giant says that currently, 2.3 million children in the UK live in households that have experienced food insecurity in the last six months, a situation that has worsened during the pandemic.

This situation has been felt particularly acutely in Blackburn with Darwen which has been one of the worst hit boroughs in England by the pandemic and which was found to be England's tenth worst off area in a study by the Office for National Statistics earlier this year.

Tesco UK and Republic of Ireland CEO Jason Tarry said: “We wanted to find a really simple way to do our bit and help our customers do the same.

"We hope Buy One to Help A Child will encourage healthier choices for our customers at the same time as helping to feed children who need it most, so we can continue to help support the communities in which we live and work."

The new scheme builds on Tesco’s existing food redistribution programme with FareShare, which distributes food to people in need across Lancashire and the North West, that last year saw the chain provide more than 29 million meals of surplus food.

FareShare Chief Executive, Lindsay Boswell CBE said: "In the last year, FareShare has doubled the amount of food we’re providing to people struggling to get enough to eat.

"While the lockdown may be easing, we know that food insecurity remains high.

"That’s why we are so pleased to see Tesco and its customers helping us to support children who need it.

"It will make a huge difference to so many people that have been affected by the pandemic."