On Christmas Eve, the Nottingham Women’s Centre held their second annual Soup Kitchen event and Nottingham Forest Ladies FC were humbled to be part of the event.
After hearing of the event, Forest Ladies gathered support from all age groups in the build up to the occasion by collecting donations of clothes, small toys/gifts for children, non-perishable food and empty boxes for storage for the day. In addition, representatives from the club were on hand to help out on the day itself.
Centre Manager, Melanie Jeffs had the following to say about the day: “After a tough year for many people, it was great to finish 2013 with an event like this. In the course of 5 hours we fed well over 100 women and approximately 60 children. We provided clothes and toys to women, as well as food parcels and information on crisis support available over the Christmas period. We simply couldn’t have done this without the generous donations and hands-on support provided by the community, including Nottingham Forest Ladies FC.
“We were completely stunned a few days before the event when Forest Ladies turned up with a van full of donations. After a few quick peeks into the bags we realised that this was going to make Christmas special for a lot of women and children, whom otherwise might not have much to look forward to.
Forest Ladies Director of Football, Lisa Dawkins was instrumental in supporting the event both before the event and on the day – and acknowledges the Centre’s cause:
“The Centre has many initiatives to support women in the Nottingham Community but this annual event affords a chance to share the true spirit of the Christmas season and to help those in greater need at a time which brings about financial pressures alongside. It was so good to see such a positive effect from the Forest Ladies community having benefit and we hope to maintain the support going forward.”
Club Operations Manager Steven Gray:
“When Forest Ladies heard about the event we instantly decided that we wanted to help out as much as possible, as a club we collected up as much as we could for this great cause, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Nottingham Women’s Centre for allowing us to be involved.”
Pictured: (Far Left) Melanie Jeffs with members of the Womens’ Centre and Nottingham Forest Ladies FC.
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