YOU'VE done it! Daily Echo readers have collected a staggering 15 tonnes of food for Hampshire's poorest families - and more tins are still trickling in.

Thanks to the huge response to our Back to Basics appeal, thousands of meals have been packaged up and handed out to people struggling to feed themselves.

The overwhelming generosity has amazed organisers at Southampton City and Region Action to Combat Hardship, who say more food is still coming in from collection points around the county.

The Daily Echo challenged readers to make a difference this Easter by donating tins of meat, breakfast cereals, tea and coffee to Southampton's Basics Bank.

City businesses Skandia, Ford and Barclays climbed aboard, as well as Southampton City Council and the police.

The charity dishes out emergency aid to people who cannot even afford to meet basic human needs of food and clothing.

It's a level of poverty almost unimaginable in wealthy Hampshire - but now 4,440 adults and 2,672 children have been fed by the organisation.

Many of those helped have been women who have fled abusive husbands, or people who have been released from jail, arrived in the country with nothing or are simply waiting for benefit cheques to arrive.

Paul Ozanne, from umbrella organisation Scratch, said: "We've had deliveries from two huge lorries - about 15 tonnes of food - and more is still coming in. We got five trolley-loads from people who just dropped off food at the Swan Centre in Eastleigh, a car-load from Daily Echo offices in Southampton and Eastleigh and there's still eight trolleys-full to come from the civic offices.

"The response has been incredible. We've achieved more in this past month than we sometimes do in a whole year and it's really raised the profile of the Basics Bank with statutory bodies as well as the public."

"It's hard to say exactly how much we've collected because it's going out as soon as it's coming in," said Paul. "This is normally such a lean time of year for us, but the Daily Echo readers have made an enormous difference."

To find out more about using the Basics Bank or volunteering at Scratch, call 023 8077 3132.