Exmouth opticians are calling for community support to assist with a food donation campaign for those in need.

Specsavers, located on Exeter Road, are contributing items to the collection and asking the public for long-life food item donations.

The contributions will be sent to the Exmouth Food Bank, which was created by a group of churches 12 years ago to provide free emergency food assistance to people and families in crisis.

Specsavers Exmouth director Ria Heskins said: "Exmouth is lucky to have such an excellent food bank and, with so many local people struggling, we wanted to help them.

"The cost-of-living crisis has hit many people hard.

"I know of people who are making the choice between buying food now or saving to heat their home later in the year.

"We’ve done this sort of collection for the food bank before and have always had such incredible support from the people of Exmouth."

They are accepting rice, pasta, tinned food, coffee, tea and other long-life foodThey are accepting rice, pasta, tinned food, coffee, tea and other long-life food (Image: Specsavers)

The demand remains high for the Exmouth Food Bank.

In 2024 alone, the food bank supported over 160 people weekly and provided 3,512 food parcels in 2023, feeding 8,195 people.

Food, fuel, and utility bill costs play a significant role in this.

Exmouth Food Bank chairman, Shirley Newcombe, said: "We are so grateful to Specsavers Exmouth and members of the public who are supporting this collection.

"This campaign will help us to replenish our core stock, especially as our regular weekly donations of food have begun to tail off as donors struggle themselves with the current cost of living."

Exmouth Specsavers is accepting rice, pasta, tinned food, coffee, tea, and other long-life food items as part of the collection.

If you're keen to contribute, donations can be made in-store at the opticians, and are accepted until August 12.

Specsavers Exmouth is open seven days a week contacted directly at 01395 277107.