For many people, food is as important a part of Christmas as any other, but the same could be said of giving.

There are many people in the area who are struggling to put food on the table – not just at Christmas, but around the year.

Kingston and Cobham food banks are vital services for these people, and the Trussel Trust, which runs them, gets 90 per cent of its donations from the public.

This is how people can help the food banks, and what they need most.

Kingston

Urgently needed items:

• Tinned meat

• Jam and spreads

• Instant noodles

• Instant mashed potato

• Small jars of instant coffee

• Fruit juice or squash

Still needed:

• Tinned vegetables (e.g. peas, carrots and sweetcorn)

• Fish

• Pasta sauce

• Rice pudding

• Tinned fruit

• Long-life milk

• Biscuits

Not needed:

• Pasta

• Rice

• Baked beans

• Soup

• Tinned tomatoes

• Tea bags

• Cereal

These can be donated at the following places:

Waitrose, Wood Street, Kingston

Waitrose, Stone Place, Worcester Park

Waitrose, High Street, New Malden

Waitrose, Claremont Road, Surbiton

Sainsbury’s, Hook Parade, Chessington

Big Yellow Self Storage, 225 Hook Rise South, Tolworth

To find out more about donating food, time and money, or to look into benefitting from the service, visit kingston.foodbank.org.uk.

Cobham

Urgently needed items:

• Tinned tomatoes

• Tinned meat

• Tinned potatoes

• Tinned fruit

• Rice pudding

• Custard

• Sugar (500g)

• Juice

• Sponge pudding

• Chocolate spread

• Toilet rolls

• Ketchup

• Shampoo

• Disposable razors

• Washing up liquid/gel/powder

• Marmite

• Peanut butter

• UHT/long-life milk

• UHT/long-life fruit juice or squash

• Tinned vegetables

• Biscuits

Not needed:

• Pasta

• Baked beans

• Tea

• Tinned sweetcorn and pulses

• Soup

These can be donated at the following places:

Waitrose, Cobham

Sainsburys Local, Cobham High Street

Starbucks, Cobham High Street

Any church in Cobham, Oxshott or Stoke D’Abernon

To find out more about donating food, time and money, or to look into benefitting from the service, visit cobhamarea.foodbank.org.uk.