City fans urged to donate to foodbanks for the remainder of the season

Manchester City ground

Manchester City fans are being encouraged to help the most needy in society before their weekend home matches for the remainder of the season.

With poverty levels rising and foodbanks handing out more emergency parcels than ever before and the North West being one of the most affected regions, a group of City supporters is starting a scheme to help provide for others.
 
The Manchester City Fans Foodbank Support programme will be setting up a collection point outside the Etihad Stadium on match days, for those attending games to drop off donations.
 
The first collection will take place beside the bridge on the stadium side at the junction between Alan Turing Way and Ashton New Road, between the ASDA superstore and the East Stand side of the ground, ahead of Pep Guardiola’s side taking on Everton on New Year’s Day.
 
Food parcels are not being given out, but collections taken to help stock the Manchester Central Foodbank.
 
It is a scheme based on similar ideas being run in Merseyside with Liverpool and Everton, as well as the likes of West Ham in London and Newcastle in the North East.
 
Founder and City fan Alex, 29, said: “It became pretty obvious that the time for sitting about was over. People who are in work are starving. People can’t afford food. There are more foodbanks in the UK right now than there are branches of McDonald’s.
 
“We’ve got a captive audience at City. It’s easier to organise people when they’re already organised into a group. People don’t have to go out of their way and if you can find a way to give people the opportunity to do something good where they don’t have to go a long way out of their way then I think they will.”
 
Alex explained how it will work: “Everything that’s donated on the day will be stored until the foodbank people can come and pick it up. They will weigh it, measure it out into different parcels, and distribute it according to need.”
 
The organisers are keen to stress that it is not just food donations that are needed, but toiletries like toilet roll, feminine hygiene products, shower gel, and babies’ nappies.
 
Not all food can be donated, too – they are asking for non-perishable goods, such as items in tins and packets, like instant mash, pasta or beans.
 
Alex added: “Please just bring something out of the cupboard before the match and drop it off. If you get the tram to the Etihad, stay on one more stop and pick something up from Asda on the way. What’s one more tram stop?
 
“It’s easy – leave it with us and we’ll do it. Because the foodbank is a charity, they have to weigh it and there’ll be pictures, so you’ll be able to see directly how much of an impact it has.
 
“I think we have a responsibility to the community around us. We can’t choose to abdicate it. Perhaps this should have been done earlier, and it’s as much on me as anyone else that it hasn’t been done earlier, but now it’s the time to do it.
 
“I hope City fans will respond and help out the people of Manchester, because we all live here.”
 
You can find out more by looking on their Twitter page: @MCFCfoodbank.

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