SHOPPERS at a supermarket giant are being given the opportunity to support their local foodbank this Christmas.

Asda stores in Weymouth have set up a ‘Fight Hunger Create Change’ collection point, where donations will be accepted and go towards helping local foodbanks.

Jacqui Dixon, community champion for Asda Weymouth, said: "Asda supports a number of good causes throughout the year, but the issue of food insecurity is one that we will be particularly focusing on at Christmas time, as we know that demand for emergency food parcels significantly increases in December.

"The generosity of our customers and colleagues is always fantastic and will hopefully go a long way to helping those who need it most in our local community.”

Over the next 3 years Asda will donate more than £20million to the Trussell Trust and FareShare, to create a long-term change to food poverty and insecurity in the UK.

The money will help charities to develop their infrastructure and services so that they can collect, transport and store fresh food in foodbanks. By the end of the programme, it is hoped that 500,000 vulnerable people will have access to fresh food every year.

The programme also aims to tackle the root causes of food poverty, supporting more than one million vulnerable people by providing them with the food and services they need to help them out of their situation.

Asda says it will also expand its existing food donation activities with the aim that by 2020, every one of its stores will have the ability to donate edible surplus food to foodbanks and community groups.