Supporting Manchester United’s community plan, Foundation coaches have been involved in distributing food donations across the region. This includes food banks and schools, plus a sizeable donation to NHS Manchester Foundation Trust Charity, a family of nine hospitals across Greater Manchester.

 

More recently, the Foundation and club have packaged 30,000 items of food and drink to deliver to Stretford Food Bank, Salford Royal Hospital and a number of other local charitable organisations in Manchester dealing with the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Foundation vehicles were used with volunteer drivers on hand to make the deliveries. This included Otto Malone, high school partnership officer at Stretford High School and Ciaran Donnelly, football education manager at Salford City College group, both a regular presence with strong connections to the local areas.

 

Foundation vehicles have also been dispatched this week to Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust and the NHS Manchester Foundation Trust Charity to deliver over 3,500 Manchester United gifts as a thank you to NHS staff including hospital cleaning and backroom staff.

 

The Foundation also continues to support young people throughout the partner school network, with many coaches still working with vulnerable pupils and children of key workers. Manchester United Foundation currently works with 27 high schools, with a presence across nine of the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester. Full-time officers are based in high schools to build lasting relationships and provide a variety of developmental opportunities for young people.

 

John Shiels, chief executive of Manchester United Foundation, said: “The Foundation is dedicated to supporting the local community; we continue to adapt and diversify at this most challenging time to enable our workforce to assist those who need it most.

 

“Where possible our coaches continue to support partner schools that remain open to children of key support workers and those who are vulnerable. We have also worked tirelessly with the club to ensure the delivery of food donations. I am incredibly proud of how united our workforce is; the number of staff volunteers wanting to support this initiative has been overwhelming.”

 

Throughout the weeks ahead, the Foundation will also be delivering weekly worksheet activities and video challenges to keep children educated and active whilst staying safe at home. These will be shared on Foundation and Club social media channels as well as being hosted on a dedicated webpage for access at any time.

 

The weekly worksheet consists of fun, yet educational tasks such as crosswords, wordsearches and Manchester United themed maths and geography, as well as an additional creative challenge. Alongside this, two videos will be shared each week where Foundation coaches will emulate their usual presence in the local community by sharing skills, workouts and physical challenges to try at home.

For more information and to keep up-to-date with the Foundation’s support of the local community during this unprecedented time, please follow us on social media.