More than £220,000 raised by Arsenal
staff and fans to aid the club's charitable arm
The
Arsenal Foundation has benefited to the tune of more than £220,000 thanks to
the efforts of the Arsenal players and fans.
Arsenal’s Barclays
Premier League match against Everton on 8 December raised a record-breaking
total for club’s charitable arm. The final sum of £226,637 will help Arsenal
continue supporting many projects in the UK and overseas that enable young
people to fulfil their potential.
As well as Arsenal
manager Arsene Wenger and his first-team squad donating a day’s wages to the
Foundation, the club’s supporters contributed to collections around and inside
the stadium. The fans also helped by buying the special-edition official
matchday programme, which featured four different covers and of which 50p from
every one sold was donated to the Foundation.
One
project supported with a donation from The Arsenal Foundation is at
Elthorne Park, in nearby Islington, where Arsenal in the Community and the
charity Freedom from Torture work together to use the power of football to help
survivors of torture.
The project
started by teaching languages to a group of people who come from countries
including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Turkey, Sierra Leone, Iran, Ivory
Coast, Afghanistan and Eritrea.
The project has
helped to develop confidence and social skills among the participants and has
expanded to include football sessions for 10-15 people who meet once a week for
training in Elthorne Park.
Before the Everton
match, Arsenal first-team players Per Mertesacker and Mesut Ozil, went to see
the project in action.
"I don't know what these guys have
experienced and it's not for me to say, but what I do know is how bright their yes
were when we were playing," Mertesacker said after joining in on a
kickabout with the group. "That's what's important here. This is what we
can do. We can make a
meaningful difference."
Selcuk Berilgen,
Freedom from Torture group therapist, hailed the project’s impact. "The
change [in the participants] has been visible from the word go,” Berilgen said.
“The group is supportive of one another - there are partnerships, friendships,
team work and togetherness. Football helps in multiple ways - it’s positive for
both the body and the mind.”
To date, the
Foundation has committed more than £1 million to a number of projects that are
directly supporting more than 100,000 people. Initiatives to benefit range from
football pitch upgrades in the local boroughs of Camden, Hackney and Islington,
to large-scale education projects in China and Indonesia, through the Club’s
global charity partnership with Save the Children.
People can still
make a donation to The Arsenal Foundation by visitingwww.justgiving.com/thearsenalfoundation or by texting AFCF12 plus the amount (eg £2) to 70070.
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