Warwickshire County Cricket Club and Warwickshire Cricket Board are encouraging local cricket clubs to participate in a national campaign to support charities that are striving to end food poverty.
Since early May, the Club’s Edgbaston Foundation charity has been operating as a weekly food storage and distribution hub at the stadium with Thrive Together Birmingham. On Friday 17 July – day two of the second match of England’s #raisethebat Test series with West Indies – it is calling on local cricket clubs to join in or stage local collection hubs as part of the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Tea-A-Thon.
Cricket Tea-A-Thon encourages recreational cricket clubs to register and become food collection points for the national food poverty charity, The Trussell Trust. However, clubs in Birmingham and Warwickshire can also collect and subsequently donate food items to the Edgbaston food hub via the collection centre at St. Mary and Saint Ambrose Church, on Raglan Road. Donated items support several organisations across the city aiding those in need, including Trussell Trust supported food banks in close proximity to Edgbaston Stadium.
“Since the outbreak of COVID there has been some fantastic stories of people in the cricket family making a huge difference to those in need, by fundraising or by investing their time.
Ed McCabe, General Manager at the Warwickshire Cricket Board
“At Edgbaston, it has been fantastic to see venue, Club and Cricket Board staff come together to make a huge difference in sorting and repackaging items that have been donated at the nearby church.
“We recognise the ECB’s Tea-A-Thon as a great opportunity to bring together more of the cricket family on 17 July and we would love to see lots of our clubs taking part, whether that be through running their own collection centre or donating to our hub at Edgbaston.”
Cricket club members are being encouraged to donate items that form part of a regular cricket tea, including tea, coffee, biscuits and fruit juice as well as items such cereal, toiletries and baby supplies, which will support some of the most vulnerable families in our local communities.
To mark this initiative, the ECB is hosting a virtual cricket tea event at ‘tea’ on day two of the second Test against the West Indies to get clubs, volunteers and families across England and Wales sharing their own cricket tea and donating products to their local clubs.
In order to get involved, clubs just need to register to become a Trussell Trust food collection point by clicking below.
Following registration, clubs will receive a resource pack providing everything you’ll need to set up your collection point, promote donation to your club members, players, supporters, and local community and find where your local Trussell Trust food bank is located.
Alternatively, all collections can be dropped off at St. Mary and Saint Ambrose Church, on Raglan Road in Birmingham between 11am and 3pm on Friday 17 July. Please note that no food can be dropped at Edgbaston direct, with all donations to be sent to St. Mary and Saint Ambrose Church.
Register your Cricket Club as a community food hub
Register to become a Trussell Trust food collection. Following registration, clubs will receive a resource pack providing everything you’ll need to set up your collection point, promote donation to your club members, players, supporters, and local community and find where your local Trussell Trust food bank is located.
