Last year’s Toy and Food Bank Appeal was a great success with plenty of donations over the festive period.
This season, in association with the supporters' Trust Oldham, we will be running the appeal once again and are looking to make it even bigger and better than last year!
This December, Oldham Athletic first-team squad, staff, Trust Oldham and mascot Chaddy the Owl are going to the Royal Oldham Hospital to visit children who are not fortunate enough to spend the festive period at home. We will also be popping along to Tesco’s Westwood store to promote and help raise awareness for the Oldham Foodbank initiative.
They are asking everyone going Christmas shopping to buy an extra present or food item and drop it off at one of the official drop off points.
Non match days:
• Oldham Athletic main reception/ticket office
Match days:
· Boundary Blues tuck shops located in the TLH Auctioneers Stand.
· Laticszone 12.30pm – 2.15pm (Saturday’s only)
· With any 'Happy to Help' representative.
· At the Trust Oldham van located outside the club shop
Toys and gifts are needed for boys and girls aged 0/16 years. Please bring them unwrapped so they can be sorted into the appropriate age and gender categories. It will also test the players' and management's wrapping skills as they are being drafted in to help.
Latics’ commercial manager and supporter liaison officer, Jenny Warburton, has been involved with the Christmas visit for the past five years and was overwhelmed at the success of last year’s appeal.
She said: "Christmas is an especially awful time to have a loved one in hospital and children especially should be at home with their families at this time of year.
"Last year's visit was wonderfully chaotic as there was so many presents. It is so overwhelming to see the amazing job undertaken by the staff on the Children’s ward especially at this time of year and we want to do everything we can to help them give these children and their families the best possible Christmas.
"I know it means a lot to the players to be able to give a little bit of Christmas cheer to the kids. My thanks goes out to Trust Oldham and the Oldham Athletic Community Trust for their involvement also."
Please ensure that gifts are received by 12pm on Monday, December 14 to give us enough time to organise the gifts before the visit. Anything that will help to give these children a better Christmas would be greatly appreciated.
The players will visit the hospital and hand out the presents a week before Christmas.