'Everybody's welcome' - inside Muslim pantry helping to feed poorest families

Tesco is doing its bit to fight hunger at the heart of local communities across Britain this spring with its Buy One to Help A Child campaign.

Every time you buy fresh fruit and vegetables, in-store or at tesco.com between March 21 and April 3, the supermarket is pledging to make a donation to FareShare, the charity network it has partnered with for the past decade. This means you’ll be helping vulnerable children and families in your local area.

As the UK’s national network of charitable food distributors, FareShare ensures that good-quality surplus food from businesses, including Tesco, is passed on to more than 10,500 frontline charities and community groups. This results in two million nourishing meals every week going to people in communities across the UK.

Preston Muslim Cultural Centre (PMCC) is one such grassroots charity, working to provide children and families in the community with fresh fruit, vegetables and groceries.

To do this, it operates Broadgate Food Pantry, which receives its produce courtesy of FareShare. The food it provides is available for anyone who needs it.

“What we offer is a food pantry for the public,” explains Arshad Dadabhoy, president of PMCC and founder of Broadgate Food Pantry. “We welcome everybody, whatever their background. The pandemic has affected so many people – working people as well as those on benefits and lower incomes.

“We offer food at a reduced price, so people have a bit more money for other day-to-day costs, while removing any stigma associated with using food banks.

“We have also helped to provide food parcels to those on low incomes, and to refugees and asylum seekers. When people are behind on their rent and unable to feed themselves or their family, we give them the