Celtic FC Foundation is today delighted to announce three new Football for Good Fund beneficiaries striving to tackle fuel poverty and supporting mental health and wellbeing.

The Foundation will work alongside Urban Fox, Glasgow’s Golden Generation, and Spirit Aid over the coming months to help those most in need in our communities.

The coronavirus pandemic has had far-reaching implications on the mental health and wellbeing of people all over the country. Levels of loneliness, depression, harmful alcohol and drug use, self-harm and suicidal thoughts are all expected to rise throughout this difficult period.

The number of people living in fuel poverty is also increasing, with almost one in four Scottish households affected in 2019, and these numbers are expected to rise given the economic impact of the COVID pandemic.

Through support from our Football for Good Fund the following charities will be delivering exciting new projects over the coming months:

URBAN FOX

The Urban Fox Programme is a voluntary managed project, providing young people within the East End of Glasgow with a wide range of educational and diversionary activities. These include supervised sports and leisure programmes, health and social education guidance programmes, IT training, as well as many other structured learning programmes.

This new partnership with the Foundation will provide young people with mental health and wellbeing support, including mentoring, small focus groups, one-to-one sessions and fun activities such as family bike rides.

GLASGOW'S GOLDEN GENERATION

Glasgow’s Golden Generation is Glasgow’s leading charity for the elderly and was initially established in 1948 as the Glasgow Old People’s Welfare Association. It was recognised that there was a need to tackle loneliness which impacted the lives of many older adults. To the present day, this remains central to the charity’s work.

The Foundation’s donation will go towards the organisation’s Befriending Service, which aims to support older adults over the age of 55 to reduce loneliness and isolation through daily calls, specialised phone calls, newsletters and online support.

SPIRIT AID

Spirit Aid is a Scottish humanitarian relief organisation dedicated to alleviating the suffering of children and young people whose lives have been affected by poverty, neglect, abuse, lack of opportunity, humanitarian crisis or even blighted by war.

Our continued partnership with Spirit Aid will provide financial support to individuals who find themselves in fuel poverty. This is projected to help 250 families and individuals.

Tony Hamilton, Celtic FC Foundation Chief Executive, said: ”When we set up Football For Good Fund a year ago we couldn’t have imagined we’d still be doing it in 12 months.

“However, that’s where we are, and it’s a testimony to our supporters across the world that we’re in a position to continue to invest in partners who can get to the right people quickly. The likelihood is that the recovery from all of this will take some considerable time so it’s important that we remain able to help for as long as it’s needed.”

In the past year, Football For Good has proved to be an important and invaluable vehicle to thousands of families, individuals, pensioners, the homeless and NHS frontline staff.

The work of the Foundation will continue in the weeks and months ahead, with a number of new initiatives to be announced shortly including an NHS project aimed at improving rest and respite wellbeing hubs for staff.

For further details on the Football for Good Fund or any other Celtic FC Foundation activities, please email cfcfoundation@celticfc.co.uk and we will respond to you as soon as we possibly can.

Foundation providing mental health and fuel poverty support