Southend Foodbank will be at Southend United FC, on 13th November 2021, for a donation day.
If you’re a Shrimper, download and share our leaflet, pick something from the shopping list to bring, and let’s make this a win!
When you’re coming to the match against Woking, please bring tinned food such as tinned meatballs, tinned vegetables, soup or custard, or bottles of shower gel and shampoo. There will be collection points around the Roots Hall ground before the turnstiles. We’ll also be collecting cash donations.
The donation day at Roots Hall came about after Southend United’s Community and Educational Trust invited the foodbank to attend the Meet the Blues community day in the summer. It was a great day to meet local families and fans of SUFC, as well as players and staff from the club. Southend United’s CET team were on hand to talk to the foodbank and other community groups about working together. A recently started Fans Supporting Foodbanks group also attended. Between Southend Foodbank, Southend United CET and Fans Supporting Southend Foodbanks, we agreed to make something happen. A lot of work behind the scenes, and fantastic support from SUFC CET, and now we have a donation day at the ground, and a growing Fans Supporting Foodbanks group for Southend. Southend United CET, which works with disadvantaged children and families as part of its community work and delivers HAF (Holiday Activities and Food programmes), has also become a referral point for the foodbank. Fans giving food at the donation day will be supporting us to work together to connect the community through the foodbank and football.
Southend Foodbank at Meet the Blues Day 2021. L-R: April at Southend CET, Simon from Southend Foodbank and Alex from Fans Supporting Southend Foodbanks. Picture courtesy of Cllr Aston Line.
Alex Small, a founding member of Fans Supporting Southend Foodbanks, said:
“We set up Fans Supporting Southend Foodbanks in response to the shocking levels of food poverty in our town. As Shrimpers we are part of our Southend community; like our team we know we can achieve our goals when we come together. Right across the country people are joining the Fans Supporting Foodbanks network collecting food to make sure that local people – from pensioners to children, living alone or in families – have enough to eat and remain healthy. With your support we can do this in Southend too.”
Football and foodbanks and Fans Supporting Foodbanks
There is a long history of solidarity movements in football and fan bases are often social movements, with power to shape and impact their local communities. Fans Supporting Foodbanks was initially a joint outreach between Liverpool and Everton fans, starting in 2015. Since then, match day collections with fans from both sides contributing – because #HungerDoesntWearClubColours – have become regular events at football clubs around the country. Fans Supporting Foodbanks has grown into a grassroots organisation, with local groups setting up in every region and across different leagues. Many FSF groups aim to fight against poverty and the causes of hunger in communities, as well as giving generously to make sure local foodbanks have enough food and toiletries to help those in need. Fans Supporting Foodbanks take on food collections to tackle hunger but they also take on food campaigning against the systems of poverty that lead to hunger. Many branches of FSF also promote the #RightToFood campaign, and aim at solidarity work, lifting up the rights, access and protections for the whole community and ultimately fighting for a future beyond needing charitable food aid. In 2020 Fans Supporting Foodbanks was named by the Big Issue as a top 100 changemaker, and a food poverty hero for their work towards defeating poverty.
Increasingly, football is a powerful voice challenging food poverty. Marcus Rashford, in an open letter to MPs, asked:
“This is not about politics; this is about humanity. Looking at ourselves in the mirror and feeling like we did everything we could to protect those who can’t, for whatever reason or circumstance, protect themselves. Political affiliations aside, can we not all agree that no child should be going to bed hungry?”
Between fan-led groups and footballers using their platform for social change, football is a vital part of the conversation and action on tackling food poverty. It’s also becoming a network of support between supporters – when Southend Foodbank was looking at how to run a match day collection, people from other Fans Supporting Foodbanks groups offered advice and resources, with Alex at Manchester City FSF giving hours of his time to help. Ian Byrne, one of the founders of the original Fans Supporting Foodbanks group, met with Southend FSF at Westminster and offered support.
The donation day at Roots Hall on 13th November is an important first collection, but there’s plenty more planned for an active Southend FSF. If you want to get involved with Southend Fans Supporting Foodbanks, please get in touch with Alex at SUFCFoodbanks.
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Notes:
Southend Foodbank opened in 2013. Since then, it has grown to cover Southend and Rochford with 8 distribution points across Southend, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Westcliff, Leigh, Eastwood and Hawkwell and Hockley.
Every year the foodbank has been open has been busier than the year before. In 2020, Southend Foodbank had over 2400 referrals, and gave out food to more than 6400 people including 2900 children.
Referrals are made to the foodbank from a range of agencies, including Citizens Advice, schools, GPs and social workers, housing associations, police, and community organisations. As part of the Trussell Trust network of foodbanks, Southend Foodbank works on a referral model to make sure that people in need are connected with at least one source of support as well as getting emergency food. The foodbank also offers signposting to further help for people in crisis.
Enquiries about the Southend Foodbank/Southend United donation day should be sent to [email protected]