FROME Town FC and its supporters have come up trumps for the Kitmas campaign – raising enough money for nearly 100 club shirts, and more, for families on low incomes.
The club presented local charity Fair Frome with an amazing 97 club shirts, 97 boxes of chocolates, 97 children’s books and 97 ticket packages to see the club in action, to distribute to people in need this Christmas in Frome – smashing their target of donating 25 club shirts.
The club reports, “This festive period saw the club join the national crowdfunding campaign Kitmas, to help children across the UK that are in low income situations enjoy a Christmas where they will receive a football kit they would otherwise not have received.
“Many children dream of having the latest football kits at Christmas, but the cost of football kits can often be prohibitive to many families, especially where other priorities are at the forefront of the families’ minds. The Kitmas campaign hopes to help these children and parents in a simple way.
“Our club joined the campaign to help children in Frome benefit, something that may not have been possible from the national campaign itself and Kitmas’ existing distribution partners.
“Working with Kitmas and Fair Frome, we set a target of 25 Frome kits to distribute. However, as the 14 days progressed, we were delighted to see the fans’ donations come in fast in support of the campaign. The total raised al- lowed the club to commit to a huge 97 shirts.
“Following the news of the number of shirts raised by the fan donations, the club additionally presented an adult and child ticket to our home game in order to let the families enjoy a match for free this Christmas. Following this news, our players and management team contributed 97 chocolate boxes to the campaign.
“Finally, our youth team Frome Town United contributed 97 reading books, as the club came together in our support of Frome’s families.”
Chairman, Derek Graham, was on hand to present all of the donations to Bob Ashford from Fair Frome. Bob said, “A huge thank you to all the directors, players and staff at Frome Town. And of course, all the supporters who have donated to make this happen. This is a great partnership we are building with the club and I’m sure it will continue into the new year. Thank you all so very much”
Frome Town FC’s marketing & communications director, Scott Fitzgibbon explained, “This is a huge win for the families in Frome and the club. We were quick to realise the potential that Kitmas could bring to the community.
“We hoped to reach 25 shirts, so to see how the supporters engaged and donated to reach 97 shirts was amazing. Then to see all parts of the club come together with Fair Frome to make 97 Frome children’s Christmas made that little bit better has been something to behold.”
“In a final element of the Kitmas campaign, we appreciate that we want all recipients of the shirts to feel comfortable at the ground on the 27th December. With this in mind, we are asking all fans to wear their shirts or something red to the match.
“Finally, a huge thank you to everyone that donated, shared or spread the word about the campaign. We are all #BA11.”
