Pitching In: Free Meals on Match Days!

Last week, our CEO, Ridwana Wallace-Laher, attended a meeting to discuss all things football, food waste and community hunger!

As part of what is now a three-way partnership between Penny Appeal, Bradford City Football Club (where Penny Appeal are official charity sponsors), and Bradford City FC’s Community Foundation (where Ridwana is a Trustee), Ridwana wasted no time in kicking off new strategies to address societal challenges by leveraging the power of sports, community engagement, and philanthropy.

Penny Appeal are proud to announce the new and improved Thursday Feeding initiative, which involves our orange volunteers aboard our Penny Appeal Community Kitchen food truck dishing out hot meals to homeless, vulnerable, and low-income individuals in the heart of Bradford. Now in partnership with Bradford City FC, we’re moving from our usual spot on Manor Row to the club’s official grounds carpark on Burlington Road, opposite the iconic University of Bradford Stadium, from January 2024. So, if you’re a regular, or if you’re feeling the financial pinch and would benefit from a hot meal this winter, we’ll see you at the new location next year!

As part of this promising collaboration, we’ve also been working hard to make arrangements to distribute extra food from the matches via our food truck to vulnerable individuals on every home match day! This new initiative will not only provide a pick-me-up in the form of a cooked meal to those in need, but it will also cut food waste on match days by up to 100%! If we can use the food that doesn’t get sold to fans and distribute it amongst the community, we’re almost onto a hattrick!

Here’s what our CEO, Ridwana had to say about the partnership:
“We are very excited to be working closely with the Club and the Community Foundation in doing our bit for the community in Bradford. This is not only an opportunity to provide nourishment for vulnerable people but will also tackle the issue of food waste management, which is something I know the Club and the Foundation care deeply about.”

Bradford City FC’s Community Foundation CEO and ex-Bantams player, Ian Ormondroyd, said: “Here at the Foundation we are delighted to be working alongside Penny Appeal. The food truck will do crucial work in providing for the underprivileged, vulnerable and at-risk members of our community. Hopefully, by combining our efforts with the Club, Penny Appeal and our City Hub, we can make a real and lasting difference, which not only provides for Bradford’s community members, but allows us to reduce food waste too.”

As well as Thursday Feeding and match day distributions, we’re also going to be present at Bradford City’s home game against Crawley Town on Saturday 6th January! We’ll be bucket collecting for our emergency appeals and Penny Appeal at Home UK initiatives. Make sure you look out for our orange volunteers – come and say hello and don’t forget to donate your small change to make a BIG difference in the community!

We’re sure you’re feeling the bite of the winter cold this week, we definitely are in Wakefield! As temperatures drop to below freezing, initiatives such as our Thursday Feeding events couldn’t be more vital. That’s why we’re branching out with other locations for mid-week feeds… stay tuned to our social media for updates!