Celtic fans to hold food bank collection at Inverness clash

THE supporters' organisation The Green Brigade will be holding their annual Food Bank drive prior to the match against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on 5 November.

Celtic fans to raise funds for food bank at Parkhead prior to Inverness match. Picture: John Devlin

It will be their fourth consecutive initiative and each one has been met with an incredible response.

In a statement, the Green Brigade said: “For the first two years, we were able to support many families in Glasgow’s East End.

“As the success of the Food Bank Collection increased, it became apparent that due to the generosity of the Celtic support, we could actually send food all across the city.

“Subsequently, last year we were delighted to invite various Food Banks from all corners of Glasgow to bring a van and take crates of food back to their bases and feed those who needed it most as Christmas approached.”

They added: “This year, we will once again be hoping to help feed families from all over the city and will have various vans around Celtic Park from around noon right up until kick off at 3pm collecting food.

“We also collected cash donations from those who preferred to donate in this way and will once again have buckets at each collection point.

“Due to obvious logistical restrictions, it is impossible to have every food bank in Scotland benefit from the food collected on match day.

“However, last year we were delighted to have collected a record amount of money, and donated £500 to a further 16 food banks up and down the country.

“This money was greatly appreciated by all and made a significant difference to many. We hope to be able to do this again and ensure that it is not only the people of Glasgow who benefit from the Celtic support’s generosity this Christmas.

“We are also really keen to ensure we lend our support to the Celtic FC Foundation as they get set to launch their Christmas Appeal once again.

“Last year’s Christmas Appeal had many beneficiaries including The Invisibles, Yorkhill Children’s Charity and Glasgow East Women’s Aid in addition to 200 local families who live in poverty.

“The donations from the Celtic support went a long way to ensuring Christmas is that bit better and put smiles on the faces of many unfortunate families in Glasgow.”

The Green Brigade will also be asking the support to help with projects outside of Scotland.

Scottish Action for Refugees support of the winter initiative programme seeks to provide much needed aid within refugee camps in northern Greece.

There are currently 27,000 people living in tents in one of 24 camps under extreme conditions which will only worsen as the winter months approach.

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