The AFC Wimbledon Foundation are launching a summer programme to help disadvantaged children in Mitcham – and you can do your bit to reach the £10,000 target.
The fact that 700,000 London children struggle for food during the school holidays is a stark reality reflected locally in Merton and our Foundation’s scheme aims to help make a difference in the community.
This year’s AFC Wimbledon Foundation Day – staged this weekend to coincide with the Accrington Stanley home match – will be focused upon raising funds for a four-week summer holiday activity programme, which will also include serving food to children. In partnership with Phipps Bridge Youth Centre, it aims to help 30 disadvantaged children (aged from 7-13) every day.
AFC Wimbledon Foundation Director Phil Rudling said: “As a Foundation, we had been looking for a real focus to work towards. We’ve done some excellent work in the past in the community, but with the club going back to Merton, we want to make sure that we are actively making a difference in our home borough. The areas we are going to work in have been identified as places that don’t really get enough resources and we will be trying to make a difference.
“We are planning a new project called ‘Kitchen Social’. It is linked to the Mayor’s Fund for London with a plan to target families in the local community that are struggling to provide a full programme of physical activity during the summer. A key part of it is that we will also provide a hot meal during the day. During the school holidays, kids that are on free meals during term time do not always get quality, hot meals, during the break. We can help to meet that gap for those families during the summer holidays. We will be trying to provide good nutrition for the kids and good physical activity as well, along with creative arts, which will run alongside it.
“We are aiming to run a four-week programme consisting of sports, creative arts, and we will do some mentoring support as well. Our Foundation coaches will go in there and deliver our coaching expertise in sports. It will not just be football as we will run other activities including Short Tennis, Kwik Cricket, Athletics, and Netball. These are sports that we run regularly through our programmes. It would be great If we can get a contribution from supporters and other people in the community to help us reach the £10,000 target. Apart from the football on the pitch, this type of project shows what our club can be all about.”
Kitchen Social has been developed to tackle the growing challenge of child poverty that has been on the increase over the last few decades. The programme aims to impact on child poverty by tackling social isolation, food insecurity and educational disparity, which are issues that are increased during school holidays.
AFC Wimbledon will be holding a match day raffle on Saturday, so please look out for our sellers and donate as much as you can spare to this great cause. If you would prefer to donate online to this vital campaign you can donate via the AFC Wimbledon Foundation website. When donating, please write “Kitchen Social” in the comment box. Come On You Dons, let’s show the power our football club can have in the local community!