Ipswich Town fans have the opportunity to get Fans Supporting Foodbank’s season target of £10k over the line on Saturday, as they cheer on their team to do the same.
Ahead of Ipswich Town’s match against Huddersfield Town on Saturday, 4th May, supporters will have the opportunity to donate food items in the club’s FanZone, and by the Sir Bobby Robson statue on the Portman Road, for local Suffolk charity partner Families in Need (FIND).
Over the last two seasons, Town fans have come together to donate near to 150 full crates of donations and have raised over £8k this season alone for the Ipswich foodbank FIND. The fan-led and independent group ‘Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks’ are continuing to work with the club and the Ipswich Town Foundation to make the final of the season, the most successful yet.
With this season’s ambitious target of £10k in sight, fans are asked to show solidarity with their community as the group aim to sign the season off with enough money to see FIND through until the season begins again in August.
Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks was borne out of the idea that football fans can come together, regardless of club allegiance, to support those less fortunate. It is one of the 40+ teams across the English footballing pyramid that was born from the Fans Supporting Foodbanks initiative that Liverpool and Everton fans launched in 2015.
The national campaign is run under the premise of Hunger Doesn’t Wear Club Colours – it doesn’t have a race or a religion, it doesn’t have a creed, it doesn’t have a gender. Nationally, the group has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of donations for local causes and hope to eventually have a fan-led organisation at every club in the 92 and beyond.
The most recent figures show the number of food parcels distributed in Suffolk hit a record high in October 2022, with 9,460 provided to people in one month.
8,160 children Ipswich are reported to be living in poverty. That’s 8160 too many.
Spokesperson and organiser of the Ipswich Town group, Elijah Aldridge, says “We cannot overstate just how exciting things are at Ipswich, both on and off the pitch. With Town just one point away from a place in the Premier League, the support and genorisity shown by the Blue Army has been of Champions League standard. The summer months can be the busiest for FIND, with the pressures of school holidays causing increased demand. Without our regular monthly match-day donation drive – we want to sign off with our biggest showing of solidarity yet”.
Examples of items to donate:
In demand:
General asks: