West Ham players and the manager have donated money which will be split between the Newham Christmas Toy Appeal (run by AAA, providing 2,000 stockings for local children on Christmas Day), the Newham Foodbank (who the Club have been working closely with this year along with John Ratomski from Irons Supporting Foodbanks) and Barking and Dagenham Council’s Christmas Cheer Campaign (which is aiming to support 900 families who are in need of support this Christmas, with gifts).
This Christmas, the West Ham United family has come together to support campaigns close to the Hammers fans’ hearts and local projects which will help those most in need in the local community, following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Club; its Board, players and manager have donated much-needed money to the Newham Foodbank through Irons Supporting Foodbanks, as well as the Newham Christmas Toy Appeal and Barking and Dagenham Council’s Christmas Cheer campaign, to add to the funds already raised by the Club’s fans. The Club’s donations will also go towards selection boxes for thousands of children in Newham.
Throughout November and December, Hammers fans have been generously reaching into their pockets to help vital local projects such as the Newham Foodbank and the Barking and Dagenham’s Christmas Cheer campaign. Players and management wanted to join forces with fans, to continue to help the campaigns, with their own donations following Joint-Chairman David Sullivan’s support throughout 2020, with more than £30,000 provided to Newham Foodbank, including the finance of a delivery van, and a £25,000 donation to FareShare UK towards free meals through the Child Food Poverty Taskforce, founded by the inspiring Marcus Rashford MBE.
In addition, the Club is donating over 1,000 toys to local children – to the Newham Christmas Toy Appeal and to Barking and Dagenham’s Christmas Cheer campaign, so that as many children as possible have presents to wake up to on Christmas morning.
Official Club Partner Quattro Group is backing the Newham Christmas Toy Appeal by providing their warehouse free of charge to allow the stockings to be filled.
West Ham United Vice-Chairman Baroness Karren Brady said: “Despite the challenging year that everyone has faced, the Board were clear that this investment in the community is needed more than ever and the Club’s commitments to the community are unwavering. Poverty, loneliness, mental health and inequality are all key issues which the Club is focused on combating. The supporters have been fantastic in their help for the local foodbanks, and we also have a whole-club effort behind these campaigns – everyone from our backroom staff, to the players and manager supports these incredible causes.”
West Ham United Club captain Mark Noble said: “As players, we were more than happy to throw our support behind these vitally important campaigns. The Players’ Project is two years old now and I’m really proud of the efforts of the players in that time – across the men’s, women’s and Academy squads there have been hundreds of hours of community support for a huge range of initiatives from helping the homeless, to careers advice, to spending time with our older fans. The efforts of the everyone during this challenging year have helped bring us even closer together as a team and lifted the spirits of everyone at the Club. Now we need to focus on tackling poverty which is a big issue locally, so that there is more equality out there for everyone, and I think the Club’s increasing focus in that area will help us to do that.”
West Ham United Joint-Chairman David Sullivan added: “This is our community, and we knew we had a responsibility to help at what is a really difficult time for a lot of people. I wanted to support the East End community as it is close to my heart, but was particularly keen to do so having seen the incredible efforts our fan groups were also putting into this, and how they pulled together to support those most in need at this time.”
John Ratomski from Irons Supporting Foodbanks said: “Alongside the West Ham fanbase we are delighted to have the support of our club, with staff, owners and players helping us to support Newham Foodbank and allowing us to make a difference to around 8,000 Newham children this Christmas. We are looking forward to the time when full crowds return to the London Stadium next year and we can continue the friendships made with the fans who have supported us since we began working with the local community to fight food poverty a year ago.”
This is a great read, and wonderful causes. It’s sad that in this day and age there is still a lot of poverty. Small gestures do go a long way, and I hope those receiving gifts have at least a little more joy over the festive period. A really big shout out to all those involved in making other people’s lives a little happier. 👏👏👏