Glencairn banking on fans to help with food drive
Rutherglen Glencairn FC have scored a winner with the launch of a campaign to help people in poverty this Christmas.
Players, management and staff at the club have kick-started a drive to collect food and essential items for Rutherglen and Cambuslang Foodbank in the busy festive period.
They are holding a collections at The Celsius Stadium and are calling on fans to bring along donations at their match this Saturday – and the next home game on Saturday, December 15.
Barry Houston, Glencairn’s under-19s coach, started the charity collections with the club’s three youth teams and it was then embraced by the whole club as a community project.
Willie Harvey, manager of the first team, said:“We thought it was a fantastic idea and that’s why the whole club is behind it.
“In this day and age it’s a sad indictment that we have foodbanks at all, but unfortunately a lot of people rely on the local foodbank in this area.
“The under-19s team started collecting food a couple of weeks ago and we now intend on collecting at the stadium at our next two home games.
“A big bucket will be in place at the turnstiles and we’d be grateful if fans could bring along a couple of tins or packets of food to donate.
“We’re also willing to do some pick-ups during the week for people who can’t get to the games but want to contribute. Just contact us at the club and we can make arrangements.”
This is not the first big charity effort by Rutherglen Glencairn as the club teamed up with Cambuslang Rangers several years ago to stage a match in aid of Cash For Kids.
And the club has also raised cash for Breast Cancer Care through selling scarves at a Scottish Cup match.
The Reformer revealed earlier this year that 1000 extra emergency food parcels were distributed across Rutherglen and Cambuslang in the past year.
The number of people struggling to put food on the table jumped to 4174 in 2017-18 compared to 3166 the previous year, a shocking 32 per cent increase. Foodbank volunteers say the main reason for this jump is people being left in financial crisis due to continued issues with Universal Credit benefits.
Items listed as“urgently needed”on the Rutherglen and Cambuslang Foodbank website include: tinned meat, tinned fish, UHT milk, tinned rice pudding, instant mash, tinned vegetables, tinned fruit, toilet rolls, shampoo, and deodorants.
Rutherglen Glencairn’s match against Neilston Juniors kicks off at The Celsius Stadium at 1.45pm this Saturday.