MSF FOODBANK – “A BIG THANK YOU”
Middlesbrough Supporters Forum is pleased to announce that our foodbank initiative was a big success in the 2018-19 Season and will be continued in the 2019-20 Season and for as long as there is a need for FoodBanks.
With the support of Middlesbrough Football Club, the Forum arranged a donation point at the Riverside on specific publicised match days for dry and non-perishable foods, or cash donations, to support the invaluable work the foodbank does in the town.
Last season, generous Boro fans attending the match were joined by opposition supporters in helping to make the initiative a success.
Middlesbrough Food bank is part of a nationwide network of foodbanks, supported by the Trussell Trust, working to combat poverty and hunger across the UK.
It provides three days’ of nutritionally balanced emergency food to local people who are referred in crisis.
‘Fans Supporting Foodbanks’ has been embraced by a number of clubs, including Liverpool, Everton, Newcastle United and Celtic, and has now been launched nationally.
Chris Joseph, Chair of the Middlesbrough Supporters Forum, said:-
“There was never any doubt that Middlesbrough fans would rally round to help those in their local community who are facing a difficult time. For away fans to also travel with bags of food demonstrates the unity that exists for this work in the football community at large. The most common question asked was ‘are you doing this again’ and with the great support we received from the football club we will do just that. We’d like to thank every single person who brought along a donation last Season and also to the volunteers who gave up their time to help out. Of course we are delighted to receive bags of food(the more the merrier!), but the average Boro match has around 20,000 fans…if everyone brought just one item we’d be most grateful. Last Season we collected 1,631kg of food and £1,324.96p in cash donations. In 2019-20 Season we hope to beat last year’s figures. Further collections will be held at certain fixtures with details announced through local media, Middlesbrough Supporters Forum, its affiliated fans’ groups and MFC”.
Soroush Sadeghzadeh, Project Manager at Middlesbrough Foodbank, said: “It is great to see the supporters on both sides supporting the work of Middlesbrough Foodbank and we are all overwhelmed by the generosity of people. This wonderful response will help us in feeding families and individuals who are in crisis in the local community.”
https://www.trusselltrust.org/
