SHOPPERS in Bolton have shown "incredible compassion" by donating more than 2,000 meals to children and families in need over the summer.

Tesco says that shoppers in the borough gave a total of 2,295 meals worth of food to its food collection programme, which helps the Tressell Trust and Fareshare charities distribute food to those in need.

The meals donated in Bolton make up part of a UK total of 900,000 collected by the programme.

Fareshare head of development for Greater Manchester Miranda Kaunang said: "We are incredibly grateful to everyone who volunteered and every customer who donated items during this year’s Tesco Summer Food Collection. It was wonderful to see so many passionate people lending a hand to support.

"The donations we receive through the food collection are vital and will be redistributed by FareShare to charities and community organisations working with people across the UK."

The food collected will help the Trussell Trust provide emergency food parcels to families in crisis and will help FareShare support thousands of groups working to feed children and families across the country.

Tesco says it has topped up all the customer donations with an extra 20 per cent in cash to help the charities in their work.

Trussell Trust chief executive Emma Revie said: "Thanks to the incredible compassion and generosity of Tesco customers during the Tesco Summer Food Collection, food banks in our network have been able to offer emergency food parcels to thousands of families in crisis throughout the summer months, while we work in the long term to build a hunger free future.

"We have been truly humbled to see how much people have been willing to give to food banks this summer, as our nationwide network of food banks do all they can to help families meet the extra financial pressures of the holiday period."