Czech civil body collects food for people in need

The second Czech National Food Collection organized by the Federation of Food Banks is held in more than 380 stores on Saturday throughout the country.
The activity aims to gather non-perishable food for those needy by means of food banks. The food banks distribute the help to asylum houses, foster homes, mentally or physically disabled or homeless people.
The organizers collected 66 tons of food in the event last year and they expect to collect more than 100 tons of food this year.
Jiri Marecek, Corporate Affairs Manager of Tesco Stores, said that Tesco Stores company would increase the total volume of collected food by 20 percent.
The event is supported by some 1,500 volunteers including 250 of employees of Tesco in its stores. The collected food will be transported to the central stock and distributed to charity organizations.
"The food collection received positive resonance thanks to good publicity. We have collected 440 kg of food just in this supermarket until 14:00 in the afternoon. The biggest donor is a man who donated a full shopping cart of food," Jitka Balsanova, a volunteer in a Tesco store in Prague, told Xinhua.
The food banks are civil associations which collect donation food in such events, agricultural surpluses, expiring food, or food can not go to regular sales such as food with damaged package or with inadequate composition information on the package.
The main goal of the project is to open discussion about food shortage and simultaneous waste. A Czech citizen reportedly throws 69 kg of food into dustbin every year on average.