CELTIC Football Club, alongside Celtic FC Foundation, is today proud to join football clubs and foundations across Europe in taking part in the #MorethanFootball Action Weeks run by the European Football Development Network (EFDN).
The #Morethanfootball Action Weeks are into their fourth week, with participating clubs and organisations showcasing the excellent Community and Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives they implement and explaining how their organisation is more than football.
Like every year, the goals of the campaign are to promote football, equal access to football for all, healthy living for children and adults, combating racism and discrimination, the fight for equality and the promotion of diversity.
As an EFDN member, Celtic Football Club is unique in the sense that it was formed initially for charitable purposes. Our founding father, Brother Walfrid, established Celtic as a means to raise funds to help alleviate poverty in the East End of Glasgow. The Club was also formed as a means for community cohesion between the immigrant Irish and resident Scottish populace – hence the name, Celtic.
In the present day, Celtic FC Foundation continues Brother Walfrid’s vision of football as a force for good and we uphold this charitable heritage in the name of supporters worldwide – it’s our reason for being.
Recently, the Foundation’s entire focus has been redirected to alleviating the evolving complications of the COVID-19 crisis and so far we are delighted to report that the following has been achieved:
– 11,000 hot meals served to frontline NHS staff
– 35,000 vulnerable families and individuals supported
– Assistance provided to 9,000 vulnerable pensioners
– 4,000 people facing homelessness supported
– 1,600 primary school pupils supported
Our work includes providing funds to around 55 partner charities and community organisations who are supplying vital food and essentials to those who need it most in Glasgow and Lanarkshire, Greenock, Oban, Edinburgh, Fife, The Isle of Skye, London, Newcastle, Dublin and Belfast.
We have also set up a project that supports pupils and families at 12 Glasgow-based schools and nurseries, providing family cooking packs and activity boxes which we hope will help to alleviate some of the mental health issues brought on by the financial burdens people are currently facing.
Separately, our partnership initiatives with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Cathedral House Hotel and 1051GWR have provided hundreds of hot meals each day for frontline staff at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Gartnavel Hospitals and the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre.
And our partnership with Glasgow North East Foodbank continues in the form of two projects – one offering a free food parcel self-referral service for people living in Glasgow affected by the COVID-19 crisis and the other working with the NHS to supply food and essentials packages for patients who have been discharged from hospital.
Internationally, we have also provided assistance to two partner charities in New York – Coalition for the Homeless and Children’s Aid – who are ensuring that food and essentials reach vulnerable children and families in the city.
Celtic FC Foundation is immensely grateful to everyone who has supported the Football for Good Fund so far and we will continue to harness this goodwill and support those most in need in these uncertain and difficult times.
