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Bradford is no stranger to deprived communities and families living beneath the poverty line, many communities struggle to eat and provide for their families throughout the year and the Christmas period happens to be tougher than normal, at Bradford City FC Community Foundation it became a goal of ours to help give back to those in need over Christmas.
During the 20th and 27th of December 2021, Bradford City Football Club Community Foundation worked on launching a Christmas Winter appeal, with the sole purpose of giving back. Food support has been running since October 2020 at the foundation since then, we have supported over 1,150 families.
The appeal was endorsed and supported by Bradford City FC as well as many high-profile influencers from Bradford such as Arooj Aftab, a fashion content creator and diversity activist. The foundation received donations from the general public who helped raise £385 via GoFundMe and the first team donated £250.
The donations helped go towards buying food and distributing it across West Yorkshire.
The Foundation partnered with Aldi on Stanningley Road, which provided the Foundation a large amount of food to distribute into food parcels for families. Having such an established institution on board allowed us to have the manpower in being able to provide an adequate amount of food.
As well as this, we partnered with Bradford City Council, through the Household Support Fund, for more donations and support. The council provided the rest of the food towards the foundation's food parcels.
With many hands-on decks, the NCS changemakers helped pack food parcels, and volunteers helped distribute over 100 meals in the first week to families in Bradford and surrounding areas. Our very own CEO and former professional footballer Ian Ormondroyd got his boots mucky and helped deliver the parcels directly to many families' houses.
Many of the people at the Foundation went above and beyond to provide the most care in preparing the parcels, with our team members also donating food towards the appeal.
As a gesture of goodwill and a combination of Christmas spirit, all families were offered free tickets to a Bradford game through the Community Foundation, as another incentive to give back to those who didn't have very much over the festive period.
Some very special mentions to Qasim Akhtar and Jen Fellows for orchestrating donations from Aldi supermarket, supplying, transporting, and delivering packages across the community. Another special mention to both Harry Doyle and Rea Stewart for making food parcels as well as Harris Hameed for promoting the appeal on a media rollout throughout West Yorkshire on BBC Radio Leeds, Fever FM, and Chapel FM to generate awareness and bring people on board.
Thank you to everyone who liked, shared, donated, and helped us share our appeal across all platforms, we here at Bradford City FC Community Foundation appreciate your support throughout the years.
Have a fantastic 2022 from Bradford City FC Community Foundation. Make sure to follow us on all our social media platforms. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bcafc.cf/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/bcafc_cf Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bcafc_cf/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bradford-city-fc-community-foundation