RESIDENTS of local care homes will get a festive boost after more than 500 boxes of mince pies were collected by a frozen food retailer.

As part of an in-store incentive, staff from the Iceland warehouse, in Peel Retail Park, have been attempting to sell as many boxes of mince pies as possible throughout December.

The staff also decided that they would help their local community and ask for donations of mince pies which will be given to care homes across the borough.

“Every year in December we aim to sell as many boxes of mince pies as possible, but we decided that this year after everything that has happened we wanted to help our community as well,” said shop representative, Michelle Wistow.

“We asked customers to buy extra boxes to be donated in-store to a charity of our choice. We spoke about donating them to the hospital but we all settled on care homes because we think they often get forgotten.

“I think it’s really nice to be able to help people out, especially at Christmas, and it’ll help cheer up the residents who might not have been able to see their families as much this year.”

Since the initiative started last week, the team has already collected more than 500 boxes of mince pies.

“I couldn’t believe how many we have,” added Michelle. “The public have really been getting involved and I want to say thank you for all the donations.”