An eight-week pilot donation scheme, aimed at getting more donations to Bournemouth Foodbank over the summer, has been launched.

The pilot, launched by Virgin Media O2, together with charity giving platform Neighbourly, will run as a trial for eight weeks and will help support the one-in-10 parents expected to need to access a foodbank or other support in the next couple of months.

The scheme will use engineer vans to deliver donations, with a team of Virgin Media technicians volunteering to collect and drop off items to the Bournemouth Foodbank. The technicians will collect food, toiletries and devices from customers who would like to contribute, with donations being delivered directly to Bournemouth Foodbank.

Bournemouth customers who have an installation booked will be notified of the scheme, and items that are needed in advance of their booking. The scheme has been designed to provide a simple and convenient way for people to donate to their local foodbank if they wish to and are able to.

Customers will also have the option to donate old tech as part of Virgin Media O2’s on-going Community Calling scheme, which was created to tackle digital exclusion by rehoming devices to people across the country who face digital isolation.

Fundraising coordinator for Bournemouth Foodbank, Millie Earl, said: “At Bournemouth Foodbank we are currently providing food and essentials to over a thousand people a month, a third of which are children. This is nearly double the number of people we were helping this time last year. As the price of food has gone up, donations to the Foodbank have gone down.

“That’s why we’re really pleased to be part of the scheme to help us plug the gap and continue providing emergency food parcels to the poorest and most vulnerable people in our community.”

Chief executive officer at Neighbourly, Steve Butterworth, said: “The cost-of-living crisis is causing a rapid growth in the demand for foodbanks and front-line support services, which we’ve seen through our work with local charities and was further evidenced in the results of our community insights survey which revealed foodbanks across the UK have experience an 86 per cent in demand over the last three months alone. As the summer holidays hit, it is only going to get more challenging with families not able to rely on free school meals.”

Chief operating officer at Virgin Media O2, Jeff Dodds, said: “We are committed to playing an active role in supporting the communities we serve, and we hope this pilot has a genuine impact on the Bournemouth Foodbank and the people it supports. I am so proud of our technicians who have volunteered their time to take part and support the community. If every customer we visit on a weekly basis in Bournemouth donated just one item of food, it could help feed more than 400 additional people over the course of our trial.”