AFC Telford repeats community Christmas gift scheme

Ian Preece said everyone at the club wanted to help and first team manager Kevin Wilkin would be getting involved on Thursday

A football club said it was repeating a Christmas toy and food parcel appeal after realising there was still a high demand for helping families.

Ian Preece, from AFC Telford, said it thought larger organisations would be able to cope, but after hearing from people in need decided to act.

The club has previously collected food and gifts to help families during the cost of living crisis.

Shropshire FA chairman Dave Simpson will be delivering items on Sunday.

Mr Preece said club staff had heard from people in need which had persuaded them to collect goods and ask for donations.

"We thought with the energy crisis coming down, we thought maybe leave it for the bigger organisations like Telford Crisis and the Interfaith Council.

"But all of a sudden we started getting one or two messages, then three or four and now we're getting up to hundreds now," he said.

'Heating or eating'

He added: "It's a shame really. I was hoping people might have got back on their feet.

"We felt here, 'we can't leave people with nothing'."

He said everyone at the club wanted to help and first team manager Kevin Wilkin would be getting involved on Thursday.

Sponsor Capgemini planned to send 25 people to help pack the gifts and Mr Simpson was using the Shropshire FA van to deliver the presents, he said.

The club is collecting food, toys and items people can use and then distributing them around Telford on Sunday.

Last year he said they had run out of gifts at their first stop in Telford, such was the demand.

"It wasn't just people who were out of work, there were people in work here who were struggling to pay - it was either heating or eating."

He added: "It's the gratitude after Christmas. You get the thank you messages. You don't want the thanks because you're trying to help people."

People can donate by dropping items off at the football club this week from 09:00 to 21:00 GMT until Friday.