Palace fans donate hundreds of essential goods to Christmas Appeal

Banding together to combat the current challenges faced by households in need, Palace fans’ generous donations will be allocated by City Harvest to grassroots organisations in the local community.

Those organisations include children’s programmes; foodbanks, such as Norwood and Brixton foodbank, whom Palace have worked closely with previously; refuges for women fleeing domestic violence and families fleeing war-torn countries; and other local groups across London, welcoming the elderly and isolated.

Launched at Palace Women’s game against Charlton Athletic Women in November, Palace for Life’s Christmas appeal asked supporters and local residents to donate non-perishable goods at collection points around Selhurst Park.

The Foodbank Drive – which saw items donated including tinned food, cereals, biscuits, sauces, long-life milk and juice, soaps, deodorants, toothbrushes and sanitary products – enjoyed huge support at subsequent home fixtures, with even visiting Botafogo supporters donating when Palace faced them in a friendly in December.

Fans unable to visit Selhurst also supported the campaign with a financial donation, and together raised £792 for the Palace for Life Holidays, Activities & Food (HAF) programme, which provides free food and physical activities for children who are on free school meals during the school holidays.

Mike Summers, Palace for Life Foundation CEO, said: "We've been partnered with City Harvest for nearly three years now. During the pandemic, we provided free, healthy meals prepared by our chefs at the stadium and City Harvest distributed them to food banks throughout the community.

"We were delighted to get involved with City Harvest again at Christmas, collecting food that was generously donated by our fans, to be distributed to the wider community. Thank you, City Harvest."

Sarah Calcutt, Chief Executive at City Harvest London, added: “This means everything! It’s such an incredibly generous collection and it has two benefits: it’s a nutritious benefit because there’s a wonderful range of food in there – lots of really good store cupboard items – but actually, there’s the mental health benefit as well.

“People must not underestimate how amazing this will be for the local community to know that Palace fans are looking after them. It means a lot.”

Why support Palace for Life’s appeal?

As the official charity of Crystal Palace F.C, Palace for Life are at the heart of the local community and it’s their ambition to support as many people as they can in our area.

Unfortunately, foodbanks have reported a surge in demand over recent years, with the number of people receiving three days’ worth of emergency food from the Trussell Trust foodbanks in the UK rising from 25,899 in 2008 to 2,537,198 in 2021.

South London is one of the most deprived areas in the capital, and foodbanks in London alone handed out 125,461 emergency food parcels between April and September last year.

With the cost of living crisis causing a sharp rise in the cost of energy, food and other essentials, as well as the £20 cut to Universal Credit last year, these numbers are likely to only increase.

Can I still donate?

Even though the foodbank drive is now closed, you can still donate to a local foodbank if you wish. Head to the City Harvest website for more information.

Alternatively, if you would like to donate to Palace for Life’s Made In South London campaign – which aims to raise £1million to transform the lives of disadvantaged young south Londoners – click here.

Crystal Palace and Palace for Life would like to warmly thank all of the Palace fans, local people and anyone else who supported this year's campaign.