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Wetzlar (dpa / lhe) - Even before Easter, the food banks in Hesse received a large donation of Easter goods such as chocolate bunnies and eggs.

One and a half truckloads with around 80,000 articles had arrived at the central warehouse in Wetzlar, said Willi Schmid, chairman of the Hessen regional association, when asked by the German press agency.

That is enough to supply every table in Hesse with enough Easter gifts before the holidays.

Usually, Easter items are not donated to the food banks until about two weeks after Easter.

Schmid suspects that this year's large donation is related to the uncertainty in trade due to the now withdrawn Easter rest.

He could not provide any information about the donor.

This wants to remain anonymous.

Schmid described the volume of food donations before Easter as “stable” overall.

Compared to the previous year, however, more was donated.

This is due to the fact that in the first quarter of 2020 the shelves in many supermarkets were bought empty due to the "hamster purchases" and thus little was left for the bars.

In addition, according to Schmid, around 60 percent of the food banks in Hesse were closed in spring 2020 due to the corona pandemic.

Currently, only one Hessian table is not in operation.

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In addition to the Easter bunnies, there was other good news for the organization: After a tax break that was recently decided by the Federal Ministry of Finance, dealers had offered the Hessian food banks several thousand items of clothing from the expiring winter collection.

"Normally we get donations of clothes from private individuals and only very, very rarely from shops," said Schmid.

Due to the taxation, it was previously cheaper for traders to destroy the goods than to donate them, said Schmid.

That was a big obstacle for clothing donations from shops.

By the end of the year, the federal government will waive VAT on seasonal goods, i.e. currently winter coats and shoes that could not be sold due to the lockdown and are now being donated to tax-privileged organizations.

The 57 food banks in Hessen support around 100,000 people with food and everyday items, and the trend is rising.

They distribute 25,000 tons of food to the needy every year.

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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210329-99-08089 / 2

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