Leeds United Supporters’ Trust are proud to announce that they have been working with two local foodbanks – ourselves and the Leeds South & East Foodbank – in setting up a new food collection point for ongoing home games in conjunction with Leeds United. The food drive will start outside the East Stand, next to Bremner Square from Saturday 27th October when Leeds United take on Nottingham Forest at Elland Road, giving fans and local people the chance to donate emergency food items or pledge cash donations.
We are asking for donations of food, which is in date and still good to eat; then, across Leeds, the two foodbanks will provide three days of nutritionally balanced emergency food and support to local people who are referred to them in crisis.
Leeds North & West and Leeds South & East Foodbanks are part of a nationwide network of foodbanks, supported by The Trussell Trust, working to combat poverty and hunger across the UK. Last year alone they provided food for 18,563 people, consisting of 11,662 adults and 6,901 children across the city.
The Supporters’ Trust worked closely with Leeds United to help get this initiative in place. Volunteers will be outside the East Stand on Saturday ahead of Leeds United’s home fixture against Nottingham Forest with a collection van taking any donations before kick-off.
The idea came about following a similar scheme set up by ‘Fans Supporting Foodbanks’ across Liverpool, which both Everton and Liverpool supporters’ trusts came together to give support for foodbank shortages.
Our foodbank is also looking for any volunteers who wish to help support their match day collections – visit our volunteers page for more information.
Clair Hufton from Leeds United Supporters’ Trust commented “We’re delighted to be able to work with the two main Leeds foodbanks to get this initiative off the ground; many football clubs around the country support a similar campaign, so it’s great that we’ve been able to work closely with Leeds United to implement this at our club.
“Whilst there should not be any foodbanks in 2018, the harsh reality is that the thousands of people, including some of our fans, across our city are in food poverty and heavily rely on these services.”
Karen Burgon and Wendy Doyle, Leeds Foodbanks North & West and South & East said, “We are delighted that Leeds United Supporters’ Trust together with Leeds United Football Club are supporting the foodbanks in Leeds by hosting these collections, providing us this opportunity to collect much needed donations [of food and money].
“We rely upon donations of food and funds from the public in order to offer our services to those in the city struggling to feed themselves and their families. Last year saw a 16% increase in people coming to us for support and whilst people come to us for a variety of reasons ‘changes to benefits’ was the most often cited reason. With the changes to the benefits system currently being implemented under Universal Credit some areas of the country have seen anything up to a 52% increase in need and we are very concerned that if we were to see similar increases we would need much more support from donations such as this. We look forward to working together as foodbanks with The Supporters’ Trust and Leeds United.”
Supporters are urged to bring any of the following items: Milk (UHT or powdered), fruit juice (long life), soup, pasta sauces, tinned sponge pudding, tinned tomatoes or vegetables, cereals, tinned rice pudding, tea & coffee, instant mash, rice and pasta, tinned meat and fish, tinned fruit, jam, biscuits or snack bars.