Celtic FC Foundation and Spirit Aid are today delighted to reveal further details of a partnership between the two organisations which aims to tackle fuel poverty and help the most vulnerable in our communities.

Around 250 families and individuals will benefit from the partnership, with financial support being provided to individuals who find themselves in fuel poverty.

The number of people affected by fuel poverty is increasing, with almost one in four Scottish households affected in 2019, and these numbers are expected to rise given the economic impact of the COVID pandemic.

Spirit Aid is a Scottish humanitarian relief organisation dedicated to alleviating the suffering of children and young people whose lives have been affected by poverty, neglect, abuse, lack of opportunity, humanitarian crisis or even blighted by war.

The Foundation has worked alongside Spirit Aid for many years, and the organisation has played a vital role recently as a Football for Good Fund partner – ensuring those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic received food hampers and supermarket vouchers.

Patrick Rolink of Spirit Aid said: “With the continued backing of the Foundation we have been able to support hundreds of families facing severe challenges such as fuel poverty – indeed for some families we have been their only source of support at a time of great crisis.

“We’ve supported families by having their utilities restored and their gas and electric power topped up, and without the Foundation, this would not have been possible.

“The biggest challenge we currently face is a lack of resource as there has been no let up in demand for families in real need.

“Every week we get asked by schools and nurseries to help with families facing huge challenges. And unfortunately we don’t see this situation changing much in the near future.

“There is also the problem of misperception over the people who need our help. A number of the families we support are classed as the ‘working poor’ and some are workers on furlough who have 80% of their wages and 100% of their bills. It’s not just people on benefits who need support.”

Patrick Rolink also expressed his gratitude for the continued backing of Celtic FC Foundation.

He said: “It is difficult to find the words that would adequately express the gratitude that we at Spirit Aid feel towards Celtic FC Foundation and the Celtic Family.

“Without your huge support we would have spent much of the last year having to turn away the needy and telling honest decent folk that we cannot help them.

“In the 18 years plus that we have been working in our communities we have never faced such challenges and we are so fortunate that we have a partner and supporter in the Celtic FC Foundation who share our values, understand poverty and choose to make a huge positive contribution to our communities.”

Tony Hamilton, Celtic FC Foundation Chief Executive, said: “Fuel poverty is a major issue for many families in our communities and it’s important for us, as it is for many partners, that we aim to alleviate this.

“We are very grateful to Spirit Aid and all our partners who are able to bring assistance to those people who need it the most, and we’re equally grateful to everyone who has supported our Football For Good Fund initiative financially in the past year.”

For further details on the Football for Good Fund or any other Celtic FC Foundation activities, please email [email protected] and we will respond to you as soon as we possibly can.