Ashton Gate Stadium celebrates distribution of more than one million meals during lockdown

Ashton Gate Stadium celebrates distribution of more than one million meals during lockdown

Posted on: 07 Sep 2020

The BS3 stadium has been a hub of charitable efforts to support people in need during the coronavirus crisis.

 

Bristol Sport has revealed that more than one million meals have been distributed from Ashton Gate Stadium since the beginning of lockdown, with the venue set up as a temporary HQ for a number of charities and charitable initiatives.

 

Having made the decision early to use the dormant stadium to support the local community, the Bristol Sport group has been working tirelessly to enable local projects and food drives to increase their output and provide food for as many vulnerable people as possible.

 

As well as the Bristol City Robins Foundation, which has delivered more than 50,000 meals to families in need across Bristol, FareShare South West, Feed the Homeless and the Bristol Food Union have been operating out of Ashton Gate since March.

 

 

FareShare South West, whose existing warehouse quickly ran out of room after the lockdown was implemented, benefitted greatly from the additional space, with the team able to pack and organise deliveries from the Lansdown Stand concourse.

 

In just four months, the charity have allocated and delivered food for more than a million meals across the South West region, covering a delivery area stretching from Bristol to Bodmin.

 

Since establishing their temporary distribution centre at Ashton Gate, FareShare have now been allocated a permanent space within the stadium, which will allow the team to continue operating once events resume and crowds return.

 

Speaking to Bristol Sport, FareShare South West's Head of Development, Phoebe Ruxton, said: "The support from Ashton Gate of our Emergency Food Response operation has enabled us to distribute food for over a million meals to frontline organisations working with vulnerable people during these exceptionally difficult times.

 

“The new space they've provided gives us certainty and allows us to plan well into next year which is essential for the scale of the operation we run.

 

"We're very thankful to the stadium, clubs and their staff who have enabled this, it is a shining example of our community working together during the crisis."

 

 

COVID-19 relief efforts over the course of the past few months have been strategically planned alongside Feeding Bristol, ensuring an efficient and effective city-wide response with input from a number of charities. 

 

Celebrating the milestone reached by stadium staff and volunteers, Bristol Sport founder, Steve Lansdown, said: “It's been great that Ashton Gate has been used in such a way to support the community.

 

"I can’t tell you how proud I am with everyone concerned and I would just like to thank everyone involved, it was a great effort by them all.”

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Article by:

Matt Robson

 

Editor - 365Bristol.com & LOUD Magazine
 

Matt is a Journalism graduate and writer, passionate about supporting Bristol music, art and independent business. Get in touch via email at matt@365bristol.com.