Say hello to the Bean Man.

Since March, Neil Potter has spent two days each week dressed as a giant tin can.

During this time he has raised tons of food and thousands of pounds of cash for the local food bank in South Derbyshire.

“There are some very generous people out there,” says Neil, who lives in Willington.

“A month ago I was outside the Co-op and a young lady got in her car, got out and handed me £100.

“So I burst into tears because you don’t expect to be given £100.”

He remembers a man giving him £50.

“Another gentleman walked into the co-op and walked out with four shopping bags,” she says.

“And I thought he was going to give me a can of beans or something, but no, he said, ‘It’s all yours.'”

Neil used to go around collecting litter before he started collecting for the food bank.

“I’m retired and needed something to do,” he said. “And the villagers were so generous they bought me a tram.”

However, Neil soon realized that the trolley was too heavy to push while collecting rubbish and decided to use it for another purpose.

“I thought I had this car that the villagers gave me and it was just sitting there doing nothing,” he said.

“So I made some posters, stuck them on the side and went around collecting the food bank in the car, and it just grew from there.”

Neil also drew some unusual inspiration. TV horror series Red Rose.

In the program, one of the characters is blackmailed with footage of him visiting the food bank.

“There was a young girl who had to go to the food bank, and she was so upset and embarrassed that she had to go to the food bank. So I thought, let’s do what we can for these people,” says Neil.

She decided to dress up as food to attract attention and therefore raise more donations.

“The bean can was the only costume I could get that really represented the food bank,” she says.

It is in no way sponsored by Heinz and the BBC would like to point out that other brands of baked beans are also available.

His idea seems to be working, judging by the amount of donations he’s received.

“I thought I’d be lucky if I could fill a tray or something and at least something would happen, but no, people are so generous, they really are,” he says.

“At the end of two days I usually end up with at least 12 trays of food and in terms of money this is usually around £100 in two days, maybe a little more.”

Following the success of The Bean Man, Neil now has another personality: Captain Rooster.

“It’s really for kids because they love that kind of thing,” he says.

“They keep bothering their parents until they put something in, so it’s working fine right now.”

The Bean Man and Captain Rooster can be found in various parts of the South Derbyshire area, including Etwall, Findern, Hatton, Hilton, Melbourne and Willington.

They usually meet on Fridays and Saturdays and all food and money collected is donated. South Derbyshire CVS.

Petra Parker, the charity’s food hub manager, said: “Neil’s help and support has made an incredible difference to our foodbank. Their actions have not only raised more than £2,000 to date, but have also raised vital awareness of food poverty locally.

“Neil and his wife Mary truly care about the community and do their best to support our food bank with a great sense of humor but also great sensitivity.

“Last year our foodbank provided more than 24,000 meals to people in need and we couldn’t support so many people without people like Neil and Mary.”