Back in March of this year we were making the final preparations to deliver the final 16 Kicks of another rewarding season, not realising that everything would come grinding to a sudden and unforeseen halt.
The Coronavirus pandemic has been truly devastating and it has affected all of us in so many ways, preventing us from living our ‘normal’ lives for the foreseeable future. As supporters of football clubs have not been allowed to attend matches since mid-March, this has obviously forced us to put everything on hold. Even when fans can return, we don’t foresee mascots and hospitality packages being feasible, therefore we are unable to deliver the days out that we have become known for. With this in mind, we have recently been thinking of ways in which we can still provide some support to families during these difficult days, particularly those who have been affected by the pandemic.
We have all seen the incredible work Marcus Rashford has done, campaigning to provide meals to children nationwide who were missing out on free meals due to the schools being closed. What he has achieved is incredible and he continues to put pressure on the Government to deliver more to those in need. His most recent success was to get the Government to continue the funding over the next 12 months, while the country tries to recover after the pandemic.
Just a week before this latest announcement we had been in touch with the guys at Peterborough United Foundation about teaming up with them to see what we could do to help. The Foundation had successfully organised and distributed 200 food parcels to local school children to provide them with nourishing items to cover the half term break, as there was no government scheme in place at that time. Both the Foundation and us here at Free Kicks had been thinking ahead… if the scheme was not to be extended then what would happen over the two-week Christmas break? There had been an incredible response all across the country from businesses, charities and local councils pledging to provide food to those who needed it over the October half term. By December, people’s attention may be elsewhere due to Christmas and impending Brexit so would there be such an overwhelming level of support and help over the next school holiday?
As stated previously, the Government has now agreed to provide funding to support vulnerable families and to extend the activities and food programme through next year. However, while this means that one meal a day would be provided, during the two-week long Christmas holiday all kids should be able to enjoy themselves, eat well and go to bed full and happy. We want to make this the case for as many local children as we can. By working with the Posh Foundation we will be aiming to raise £1500 which we will use to again provide holiday food parcels to those suggested to us by local schools. Free Kicks Foundation will match all donations up to this target and we will also help distribute the parcels to those who need them.
The Foundation does such incredible work in the local Peterborough Community and we are proud to be teaming up with them for this next project. We hope that you would like to help us achieve our target of £1500; all money raised will go directly to those in need and will help to give them a happy Christmas break. We completely understand that so many have been and continue to be affected financially by the unprecedented events of 2020 so may not be able to donate, and that’s okay. If you are able to donate a small amount, even a couple of pounds would help provide some light and happiness to a local child this Christmas. The link to donate is here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/freeschoolmealspeterborough