V2 Radio teams up with Southern Water and UKHarvest to collect for Sussex foodbanks

This year’s ‘Tonnes of Tins’ campaign will see the three organisations fundraise in the community and set up donation points in supermarkets and libraries across East and West Sussex from today (Monday, July 3).

It comes as foodbanks across the county face more and more pressure with families continuing to struggle with rising food prices and other effects of the cost of living crisis.

The team at V2 Radio is hoping the smash last year’s appeal total and raise a whopping 4.8 tonnes of tinned food. The tins will then be distributed to beneficiaries throughout Sussex in just over a months time.

These beneficiaries include the Trussell Trust and independent foodbanks, homelessness charities and refuges, as well as UKHarvest who will distribute the tins across their own network, delivering them directly to those who need them the most.

V2 Radio managing director, Alex Berry said: “As a local radio station we are well placed to highlight the struggle many families have to put food on the table.

“The basic right to food should never need to be pushed aside, but people are increasingly faced with a choice over food or bills or other essentials.

“The statistics show this is a growing reality and working with Southern Water we are doing our bit to ease that burden with our Tonnes of Tins campaign.”

UK Harvest’s Sarah Morison described how they have seen numbers ‘really increase’ this year, adding: “There’s been a double whammy of post-Christmas, the fuel hike, and food prices that have gone through the roof.”

“Often families struggle more during the summer holidays so it’s a really key time to just make sure that the bit of extra food goes a long way, and it will help us ahead of the rush into winter.”

Figures from the Trussell Trust reveal that in the last year over 349,400 three-day emergency food parcels were handed out to local authorities in the South East. Over 100,000 of these parcels were handed out in Sussex alone.