A big donation has been made to an Epsom and Ewell food bank in a bid to help them to continue supporting people who are “locked” in poverty.

The grant of £60,000 was made by Asda through the Fight Hunger, Create Change programme – a partnership between the two which marked its one year anniversary this week.

It means the Trussell Trust’s Epsom and Ewell Foodbank can continue to help supply emergency food parcels, on-site debt and money and debt advice, hire specialist advisers and more.

John Lees, project manager at Epsom and Ewell Foodbank, said: “Here at Epsom and Ewell Foodbank, we are thrilled to receive such a generous donation from Asda.”

“The money has gone towards to staffing costs to set up and implement a Poverty Truth Commission project in east Surrey. It's a really important cause and a huge task, so Asda's money is a great help.

“It's lovely that a large company such as Asda is committed to helping the local community of their branches.”

Epsom and Ewell Foodbank is one of 90 across the United Kingdom which have received a grant from the Fight Hunger, Create Change partnership it has with Asda.

Andy Murray, chief customer officer at Asda, said: “It’s been a year since we launched our partnership with Trussell Trust and FareShare, and I’m incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made to change the face of food poverty in the UK.

“As we move into the second year of our campaign, we’ll continue to provide not just meals for people but support to help them out of poverty, and we thank our customers and colleagues for their ongoing support in our challenge to fight hunger.”