A Nailsworth charity supporting vulnerable people is one of the first groups in Gloucestershire to benefit from a £500 grant from Tesco as part of a £2m scheme to support local charities during the coronavirus pandemic.

Ruskin Mill Trust offers independent education to young learners with complex needs.

Its Ruskin Mill College has remained open throughout the Covid-19 pandemic as it caters for vulnerable young people.

The college provides students with holistic learning, helping them learn to care for their own wellbeing and development and overcome their barriers to learning.

The college’s café and farm shop are currently closed to the public, but staff and students are still working to produce food on site.

Fresh organic produce is being harvested on a regular basis, and they have developed a vegetable box scheme for home delivery.

The £500 grant will be used to provide boxes of fruit, vegetables, milk and eggs to disabled people locally, and to support small local food producers who have lost access to previous markets by creating a new customer base.

Aonghus Gordon, founder and executive chair of Ruskin Mill Trust, said: “We are used to feeding over 300 people a day through our full-time café and college, so when the pandemic struck we knew we had to find some new ways to carry on our work and support local people at the same time.

“This is giving our students an opportunity to support their local community, and we know they are finding it very valuable.

“We would like to thank Tesco for supporting us to carry on our work, and would encourage other organisations to apply for help too.”

Tesco has received more than 3,000 applications for grants of £500 from groups and charities to its Bags of Help Covid-19 Community Fund.

The fund is part of a £30m package Tesco recently announced that aims to support as many groups as possible across the country with grants of £500.

Any groups that would benefit from this funding are encouraged to apply via bit.ly/3gdlk1d