Fan supporting food bank had collection stolen (Image: Fan supporting food bank/X)
Liverpool’s food bank collection bucket was stolen at Anfield ahead of the Reds’ Champions League quarter-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain. The devastating news has outraged supporters of the charity, with many branding the act “deplorable”.
Fans Supporting Foodbanks is a unique partnership between Liverpool and Everton Supporters Clubs, Spirit of Shankly and The Blue Union to help tackle food insecurity by supporting local foodbanks and pantries. The initiative is hosting collections at both Anfield and the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The collection will provide supplies to eight food pantries across Liverpool. Locals can register and pay a small weekly fee to receive food and other essentials, with up to 2,500 people receiving food from the pantry each week.
After 10 years of collecting on Merseyside, the charity revealed on social media that tonight its collection had been stolen.
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A fan supporting the foodbank told X: “We have been collecting foodbanks at Anfield, Goodison Park and HDS for over 10 years and tonight someone took a chance and stole our collection buckets. It’s a shame. Your needs are greater than the people we feed and we hope the CCTV images are as clear as possible.”
On social media, one person said: “Stealing from charity is deplorable. Lower is better.”
Another added: “There’s a reason they do it, but it doesn’t outweigh the reasons they shouldn’t do it. I hope they get caught and can fully explain their actions. This is wrong.”
A third wrote: “We need to ask for donations for this. Stealing from honest and vulnerable people.”
One X user said: “Whoever did this should be absolutely ashamed,” while fan channel Redmen TV added: “This is disgusting.”
Fans donate food to food bank outside Anfield (Image: Fan supporting food bank/X)
The initiative was founded in 2015 and has helped build a network of donor-led food banks across the country. Last year the charity, founded by Everton supporters Dave Kelly and Robbie Daniels and Liverpool fan and current West Derby MP Ian Byrne, became an officially registered charity.
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Elected Chair Dave Kelly said: “When Robbie, Ian and I first stood outside the Winslow Pub opposite Goodison Park with wheelie bins to collect food, we never thought we would still be doing what we do 10 years later.
“Although we are now a registered charity, have a board of directors and have a formal foundation, we remain a grassroots organization embedded in the football fan community and try to do our part to help our neighbours. You never know who will need our help, but we will be there while they need it.”
Ian Byrne said: “When we founded the FSF in 2015, it was both a practical band-aid to address the hunger we were seeing in our communities and a recognition of the need for a political solution.”
“The scourge of hunger and poverty in our communities is a direct result of political choices made by successive governments. If a government cannot ensure everyone has enough not only to eat, but to thrive, it is fundamentally failing.”
