Openreach game against Glasgow Saints supports foodbank
A Glasgow diversity partnership has pitched in to support a city foodbank.
To help celebrate the partnership between Openreach and Glasgow Saints FC the two organisations staged a friendly 11-a-side match in aid of the Everlasting Foodbank in Dennistoun.
With the Saints arranging a pitch on Glasgow Green and a referee for the match, Openreach fans and players based in the company’s newly revamped Broomielaw HQ were asked to donate to the foodbank, with office workers handing in hundreds of essential items.
Saints players Gurubir Bains, Greg Bow, Darren Scobbie and Graeme Crawford visited the office this week to collect a whopping 18 bagfuls of donations from Katie Milligan, chair of the Openreach Scotland Board.
Glasgow Saints’ Laurie Keith said: “We’re working hard with Openreach to make our diversity partnership a huge success on and off the pitch, and the charity friendly was the latest idea. It was an enjoyable, fun day for a great cause and we were overwhelmed by the number of donations that came in. Everyone’s a winner.”
Openreach team captain Graeme Heron added: “We got beat in the end with a respectable 5:2 win for the Saints, but we’re looking forward to a rematch. The Saints work hard to promote the message that football is for everyone, and we couldn’t agree more.”
Openreach launched a 12-month partnership with Glasgow Saints FC in May, as part of a project to support four inclusive football clubs across the UK.
The club, founded in 2020, aims to help tackle isolation and food poverty and is also engaged in local social initiatives. Players and staff commit to one hour of volunteering each month and take part in fundraisers for good causes in Glasgow.
The club’s motto is ‘football for everyone’. Players and coaches are from various cultural, religious and financial backgrounds, with asylum seekers and refugees among those in the squad.
