Pick up an extra festive goodie while shopping at Tesco in Ely and drop it into a giant shoe box collector to help local families this Christmas.

The superstore has launched a shoe box appeal for families that use the food bank, homeless people and young carers.

Julia Hamit, community champion, said: “We’re hoping to gather up as many treats as possible which will then be packed up into boxes of goodies to give out on Christmas Eve.

“The shoe boxes are already made up - we just need to fill them now and we’re hoping shoppers will help.”

The store is looking for items such as toiletries, sweets, chocolate, hats, scarves, gloves, crayons, small toys and general Christmas treats.

Julia said: “Hopefully people will just add an extra item into their trolley as they do their weekly shop.

The donation box is in store until December 1.

The shoe box appeal ran successfully last year when the store donated goodies to residents in local care homes.