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Stags help children in Mansfield with free school uniforms

Posted onPosted on 18th Sep

Mansfield Town supporters have rallied to donate school uniforms in just five weeks to help Mansfield schoolchildren in poverty.

In unison with the Schools Out For Summer project – set up recently to help alleviate child poverty during the summer holidays – the Stags have provided 30 uniforms, as well as sportswear, to the newly-formed project.

Supporters’ liaison officer Danielle Hett said: “The response from our supporters has been superb.

“We pride ourselves on being an organisation at the heart of Mansfield and we’re always eager to help the local community, which supports us.

“The sheer numbers of schoolchildren below the poverty-line in Mansfield is startling. We’ll do as much as we can as a football club to help schoolchildren in poverty and we’ve also given away match tickets for children in Mansfield to come and watch our first team in action.

“We hope our supporters can keep backing the Schools Out For Summer Project. Their kindness and generosity make a real difference to kids in our area.”

Sonia Ward, a volunteer at Schools Out For Summer, said that the scheme would extend into October half-term.

“We recognised that there was a massive issue with childhood poverty within Mansfield,” said Sonia, explaining the project’s initiation.

“Approximately 6,000 children are below the poverty line.

“When school meals end in term time, some families struggle to make ends meet so we decided what we could do to try and address that and Schools Out was born.

“Mansfield Town Football Club have been so receptive, providing match tickets for children to come and watch the games and supporting us with donations of uniform and sports kit, which is absolutely brilliant.

“Schools Out isn’t over. We recognise that there’s a lot of unmet need out there and we’ll be running it again this October half-term.

“We’re looking for donations, whether it be money towards supermarket vouchers, non-perishable goods, but most importantly winter coats and hats, which we know can be a real expense to meet for some families.”

Supporters can donate uniforms and/or children’s winter clothing by delivering them to the Stags’ ticket office at One Call Stadium between the hours of 10am to 5pm on Monday to Friday or at the Family Room in the Quarry Lane Stand on a home matchday from 11am. Uniforms of all sizes can be purchased/donated.

Meanwhile, the Stags’ continue to hold a food bank donation point inside its restaurant, Sandy’s Bar & Kitchen, seven days a week.

Items are collected each fortnight by local charities and distributed to food banks and soup kitchens in the local area.

Pictured from left are Sonia Ward (Schools Out For Summer), Danielle Hett (Stags’ Supporters’ Liaison Officer) and Jan Spencer (Schools Out for Summer).