A FOODBANK is hoping to gather hundreds of kilogrammes of food from Boro fans at this weekend’s Birmingham City fixture.

Middlesbrough Supporters Forum is asking generous fans to take a donation for the Middlesbrough foodbank to the home game on Saturday.

With the support of Middlesbrough Football Club, the Forum has once again arranged a donation point close to the North Stand turnstiles for dry and non-perishable foods, or cash donations, to support the invaluable work the foodbank does in the town.

Its first foodbank collection at the Reading game in February saw 804kg of food and more than £500 in cash donated by generous supporters.

Middlesbrough Foodbank is part of a nationwide network of foodbanks, supported by the Trussell Trust, working to combat poverty and hunger across the UK.

It provides three days’ of nutritionally balanced emergency food to local people who are referred in crisis.

Caroline Walker, chair of Middlesbrough Supporters Forum, said: “A van will be parked at the stadium from noon until just before kick-off to collect donations so if anyone is coming to the game, whether from Middlesbrough or Birmingham, we ask that they make a donation.

“Every little helps and together we can make a real difference.”

Soroush Sadeghzadeh, Project Manager at Middlesbrough Foodbank, said: “I’ve always been amazed by the generosity of people who support the work of foodbank.

“We solely rely on donations in order to provide emergency food for local people in crisis, and I’m really excited about this opportunity.”

Anyone not attending the game can leave a donation at The Fork in the Road restaurant on Linthorpe Road in Middlesbrough.

The foodbank urgently needs tinned tomatoes, tinned meat, long life milk, long life fruit juice, coffee, sponge pudding, tinned pies, breakfast cereal, packet soups, jam, marmalade, peanut butter and chocolate spread.

‘Fans Supporting Foodbanks’ is an initiative that has been embraced by a number of clubs nationally.

For more information visit

https://middlesbrough.foodbank.org.uk/give-help/donate-food/