A foodbank needs residents votes to win a funding boost from a supermarket chain.

Braintree Area Foodbank, which covers Braintree, Halstead and Witham, is up for grants of £4,000, £2,000 and £1,000 - raised from carrier bag sales in Tesco stores in our area.

The foodbank is available to anyone facing hunger because of a personal crisis and the grant money will support those who have fallen on hard times across the district.

Voting is now open for November and December, and a winner will be decided at the turn of the year.

Alec Brown, head of community at Tesco, said: "There are some fantastic projects on the shortlists and we can’t wait to see these come to life in hundreds of communities.”

The Bags of Help scheme has so far awarded £36 million to around 8,000 community projects in the UK.

To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp.