Crystal Palace fans help local communities amidst cost-of-living crisis with City Harvest
City Harvest partner and Crystal Palace Football Club’s charity, Palace for Life Foundation is supporting London communities in need this winter with fan food drives.
The foundation coordinated food drives across the club’s 2022 Christmas fixtures at Selhurst Park, collecting 100s of tinned goods and pantry items from dedicated Palace fans doing their bit for the community during the cost-of-living crisis.
Currently, more than 2.3 million Londoners can’t afford to eat and 33% of adults have skipped meals to save money so that their children can eat (london.gov.uk). City Harvest and communities alike, like Palace’s fan-base, are coming together to ensure their fellow Londoners can feed themselves, and their children, during one of toughest Januaries on record.
Left to right: Mike Summer, CEO, Palace for Life Foundation, Sarah Calcutt, CEO, City Harvest, Bobby Webbe, Fundraising Coordinator, Palace for Life Foundation.
This much-needed ambient food will be distributed by City Harvest to grassroots organisations across south and greater London. These charity recipients feed people who are facing the hard choice between housing, heating and eating, whether they’re low-income families, the elderly, homeless, women fleeing domestic abuse, or refugees seeking asylum in the UK. City Harvest recues good food from going to waste, and gets it to the people who need it most, quickly and with utmost care.
Sarah Calcutt
City Harvest CEO
“The food donated by Palace fans has two benefits for their local community: better nutrition and mental health support. We are so grateful to everyone who contributed, and to the Club for organising such a generous donation of food, helping us feed those going hungry a stone’s throw from Selhurst Park, and beyond.”
“We’ve been partnered with City Harvest for nearly 3 years now. During the pandemic, we provided free, healthy meals prepared by our chefs at the stadium and City Harvest distributed them to food banks throughout the community. We were delighted to get involved with City Harvest again at Christmas, collecting food that was generously donated by our fans, to be distributed to the wider community. Thank you, City Harvest.” Mike Summers, Palace for Life Foundation CEO.
