FC United helping the community in a pandemic

FC United is a community club, providing numerous activities to benefit our local area but these regular activities have had to pause for now, so we’ve turned Broadhurst Park into a logistics hub to help the most vulnerable in this pandemic.

We are assembling and delivering free supplies on a twice weekly basis and providing telephone contact to 30 vulnerable households, who may or may not be socially isolating but are without other support and struggling to afford or access food.

To enable this Broadhurst Park, in conjunction with the North Manchester Business Network, has been turned into a collection and assembly point for donations, bought items of food and other essentials, by volunteers adhering to strict guidelines of social distancing.

These FC volunteers are offering support to combat social isolation and maintain physical and mental well-being, as well as providing vital packages of fresh food for people who can no longer afford to shop in any sense. The packs contain not only fresh fruit and veg, but fresh bakery products and also other items such as word search books, guides on exercising in the home, and advise on recipes for the provisions in the bags.

Volunteers contact households by telephone before delivery, then leave supplies at the door and ensure that the household has received the parcel while communicating from the prescribed social distance.

We are also delivering an average of five additional packages each week to emergeny cases brought to us by the council, where households are suddenly at risk, such as an elderly lady whose family are all self isolating so her support network is cut off, and she cannot leave the house.

One anonymous recipient said :

I want to place on record my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the wonderful volunteers from FC United and elsewhere helping with the deliveries of food and other essentials to the elderly and vulnerable in this dreadful crisis. After the unbelievable selfishness displayed by some people in the preceding few weeks via stockpiling etc, we are now seeing that the vast majority genuinely care for the plight of those less fortunate or less able. In my case being over 70, living alone, and with mobility issues. Your efforts are both magnificent and heartwarming. I salute you all. Thank you.


The club will need financial support to ensure the supply of foodstuffs as this will not be met by donations alone. This will enable us to buy gloves, masks and other consumable items to ensure we can do this vital work in a safe way.

We have had some fantastic support in the shape of a start up grant from Buzz Manchester, and a grant from ’We Love Manchester’ as part of the COVID Community Response Fund.

We have also had generous support from some great companies, so please join us in thanking

We Love MCR Charity @mcr_charity
buzz Manchester @buzzmanc

For providing food and drink:

Fareshare @FareShareUK
Fine Lady Bakery http://www.heygates.co.uk/general/fine-lady-bakery/
Grandads Sausages @GSausages
Hollands Pies @HollandsPies
Kandy King @corolldraw
Nichols plc (Vimto) @vimto

For providing a man and van :
Master Moves @mastermovesltd

For providing hand sanitiser:
HMG Paints Ltd @HMGpaints

Thank you to everyone involved in supporting this vital initiative - this truly is a time of crisis, and we as a community should strive to bring each other through it safely.