Everton United In Tackling Food Poverty

Everton continued to show its support for Fans Supporting Foodbanks during Sunday’s Premier League match against Chelsea at Goodison Park.

The Fans Supporting Foodbanks initiative began locally and has since become a prominent feature at matchdays across the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, the use of foodbanks is needed up and down the country, and Fans Supporting Foodbanks is providing essential help to those who require it.

On several occasions during Sunday’s game at Goodison Park, chants were heard from a section of Chelsea fans which mocked the issue of food poverty within the city of Liverpool.

When that was being sung, the Club – united in its stance – promoted the Fans Supporting Foodbanks logo on the big screen inside the stadium.

Fans Supporting Foodbanks and its unmissable purple vehicle will be in the Fan Zone at Goodison Park all season on matchdays.

Blues are encouraged to donate non-perishable goods and a variety of dry products, such as rice or pasta, tinned foods (including tomatoes and tuna) or non-perishable packets such as breakfast cereals, biscuits, long life milk, coffee, tea, fruit juice, sugar, and snack bars. Toiletries and children’s nappies are also gratefully received.

Dave Kelly, Chair of Fans Supporting Foodbanks, spoke to evertonfc.com about the story behind the initiative, while also detailing how fans can donate ahead of Everton v Fulham on Tuesday 19 December – the Toffees’ final home fixture before Christmas.

“We’ll be there for the Fulham cup tie and we start matchday collections three hours before every game,” said Kelly. “We’ll be there with the purple van in the Fan Zone.

“We’ve always said that there’s 40,000 fans at Goodison and 50,000 at Anfield, and if each fan turned up with just one tin, then I can pretty much guarantee there wouldn’t be a child going to bed hungry on Merseyside that night.

“We started out in 2015 collecting small amounts of food in a wheelie bin, and we’ve gone from that to collecting in a small van, and now a bigger van. Since we began, it’s gone from a small idea on Merseyside and it’s now rolled out to Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, Birmingham, London, as well as Scotland, and Northern Ireland – all across the UK.

“We use the ‘#HungerDoesntWearClubColours’ because it’s about us working together collectively, putting our differences aside, and supporting each other.”

Ian Byrne, MP for Liverpool West Derby and co-founder of the campaign, recognises the unfortunate necessity of foodbanks. 

“At the moment, one in three are affected by food insecurity in Liverpool,” explained Byrne. “And that’s mirrored across other communities in the country. People are really struggling. Last year, we fed more than 100,000 people through Fans Supporting Foodbanks.

“When we started this in 2015, it was always a sticking plaster because foodbanks are a statement of failure. It shows something has gone seriously wrong.”

Disappointed by the chants heard at Goodison Park in recent matches, Byrne added: “It’s really sad to hear the chants on Thursday from the Newcastle supporters and then hearing it again on Sunday from the Chelsea supporters.

“We’ve been going for eight years now, and we’ve done lots of work with Newcastle and Chelsea fans. It’s not as if those supporters aren’t living in areas where they’re seeing the cost-of-living crisis in their communities.

“It was extremely disappointing to hear, but I thought Everton’s response was phenomenal. I think the work of Evertonians has been magnificent in the past few weeks. The van has been getting fuller and fuller at every home game.

“We’d appreciate if they could keep that level of support up. One tin is all we’re asking for. If you could afford to that over the Christmas period, that’d be brilliant.”