Football and foodbanks - still Standing Up For our Community
Hunger Doesn’t Wear Club Colours
During the 21/22 football season, collections at and around Southend United matches gave over half a tonne of food and toiletries, 600kg, and £2750 to the foodbank. This came through two match-day collections at Roots Hall, hosted by Southend United Community and Education Trust, welcoming the foodbank to set up donation points with volunteers around the ground before the match; and an ongoing collection run by Fans Supporting Southend Foodbanks with collection crates in two pubs, the Blue Boar and Spread Eagle as well as occasional pre-match pop up collections.
Read more about the 21/22 season in a joint press release from Southend Foodbank and Southend United, reporting on the 21-22 season.
Read more about Southend and the Fans Supporting Foodbanks network in a recent national newspaper article featuring out friends at Fans Supporting Southend Foodbanks, and our original article on the background to football and foodbanks.
Over the summer break, Southend United CET arranged for NCS students to volunteer and fundraise for the foodbank over the summer holiday. The foodbank were delighted to attend the end of season awards night with SUCET, recognising the work, success and impact of the Trust. We also supported CPD training with the coaching team through SUCET, on topics around food poverty and how the Trust staff can refer families to a foodbank for help.
Southend United CET invited the foodbank back to Meet the Blues day on July 31st, a family day at the Boots and Laces ground where fans and their families can meet players, club staff and a range of great local community groups. The Mayor and Mayoress of Southend dropped by with donations and took on our mini-goal challenge. Thank you to SUCET for welcoming us, putting us in the opening matchday programme notes and to the first team for visiting our stand at Meet the Blues – it’s going to be a great season!
Standing Up For our Community
Fans Supporting Southend Foodbanks worked with local non-league sides to put on a one-day charity football tournament in July 2022, following the success of a charity match between local teams St Pauli on Sea and the Farke Knights in April. The Punkpokal was a roaring success raising over £1000 and featuring in the Charity Football Weekly podcast. For the new season, FSSF have made arrangements with the Blue Boar and Spread Eagle to continue their foodbank collection points. Check their social media for updates, but remember if you’re coming to watch Southend United: Ticket, scarf, tin for the foodbank!
Get involved!
Looking ahead to the 22/23 season, Southend Foodbank will be back at Roots Hall on Saturday 3rd December (if the game is postponed, the collection will be rescheduled). If you see a poster or a social post about it, sharing is a really easy way to help make the collection a success – most people don’t carry around tins of soup or packets of custard to a football match, so letting people know in advance really helps!
If you’re interested in volunteering and helping out at the next collection day, you can sign up here: http://forms.gle/pFBc9WMuMJQBCPnS7 (link opens Google form, does not require sign in)
[This post was corrected to note the changed date for the next Roots Hall collection day]