COVID-19 COMMUNITY FOODBANK
2020 was subject to a number of challenges.
2020 was a testing year for the whole world and was definitively a testing time for our football club. To keep our subscriptions as low as possible we heavily rely on fundraising and sponsorship- with our annual tournament and club sponsored walk cancelled 2020 was definitely a test for us but we are where we are and there are now more important issues within our current world than our own worries. Within our community, during this time the following weeks were some of the most challenging times in a very long time and there are certainly many more ahead. Our local community needs to hold it's head high with the way everyone has pulled together to support the vulnerable who need us to take action.
Work within the community all started when we heard a story about an elederly gentleman who had headed to the local shops as he had no support and he needed food and essentials to keep him going. Unfortunately, as a result of the pandemic this gentleman was unable to collect the essentials he needed and walked away from the shops empty- handed and crying. Luckily, with the people in our community, two kind ladies were able to support him and sprung into action to scrape some bags together full of essentials to keep him going and handed these to him. We as a football club pride ourselves as a community club and we knew deep inside knew that surely we could do something to help. What could this be?
After a few hours of contemplation, we shared the said story on our Facebook page and we decided to start collecting food on Sunday from 10-12am and we would distribute these bags to the vulnerable within our community. Unsurprisingly, the heroes within and surrounding our club pulled together to provide for the vulnerable. On that Sunday, we provided 45 bags of items to the vulnerable and we put our next post out to appeal again for tinned items and non-perishable foods.
To our surprise, we received a call from the council and we decided to join the COVID-19 campaign and become an official partner of the Doncaster community hub based at the Dome.
On the 12th of May. We were providing for the vulnerable in and out of our community, led by our volunteer team. We were in partnership with the council and are still, to this date, in regular communication with them. Our appeal got that big that daily, we were receiving referrals from the council and were doing collections of food items which were donated our amazing community who are still, constantly pulling together to help the appeal for the people in need within their community. We then had to extend our opening times on a Sunday to 9am-12 noon, we collected and delivered 7 days a week and have purchased a large fridge and freezer so that we can keep up with the needs during these uncertain times.
At the time of writing this, the 2nd of February 2021- our non perishable items have been exhausted and passed onto those who need it most within our community. Our items were donated to the homeless charity within Doncaster and to a number of other charities who received more referrals than us, and still continue to do so, at present day.
Our community always comes first.
Cantley Park Community Group
Our position with our local community group.
We are proud to hold a position on the Cantley Park Community Group committee. Throughout our time on the committee with the group we have co-hosted, helped organise and attended meetings in order to co-produce the annual Cantley Carnival. Not only have we assisted with the Carnival- we have taken part in and organised annual litter picks of Cantley Park, our home as a community Football Club. We attend monthly committee meetings, with members of DMBC, local ward councillors, members of the community group and ourselves and offer our support on all to do with Cantley Park and whatever we can do to assist in endeavours.
Our community always comes first.
Our Charity Partner
Bessacarr FC's work with our charity partner.
Evestrust are our current charity sponsor.
With our Foodbank demand slowing down, we decided that it was time to come up with another form of support during the second lockdown. We decided as a collective that there was more that we could do.
With Evestrust already being our charity partner, our idea was that our First team, among many others, took to the streets, running, jogging, cycling or walking in order to raise awareness for the charity and for everything that it stands for. While doing this our players were able to maintain a degree of mental and physical fitness while a degree of awareness was constantly also being distributed across our Facebook page.
At the time of writing, 3rd of February 2021, we have a GoFundMe page set up where people can donate money to this worthy cause in order to raise awareness and make dreams come true. To donate the link for EvesTrust is below on the 'donate' button which will take you to their website.
Our community always comes first.