Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna highlighted the importance of the club’s work in the community, having opened a furniture store at FIND Food Bank on Tuesday afternoon.
The charity, founded by Maureen Reynel MBE, has been running since 1990, supporting all those in need regardless of faith or circumstance. Their new furniture store, which was unveiled earlier this week, is situated on the same premises as the food bank on Braziers Wood Road in Gainsborough.
The Blues have worked hard to support FIND in a variety of different ways over the last two seasons, including food and warm clothing collections, and McKenna made sure that he was in attendance for the unveiling of the facility.
We’re proud to have this association and we’re proud to help out wherever we possibly can throughout the community. This is one of those really important initiatives.
“Maureen has done fantastic work here for 30 years, I think. The support that that give to people who really need it in the community is absolutely vital.
“The foundation and all the programmes that they support is such a massive part of the football club. It’s really nice, as manager, staff or players, to put our support behind that as well. That’s why it’s nice to be able to be here on an important day for the work that’s done here.
The club is doing some excellent and really important work through the foundation. That’s grown exponentially over the last couple of years, and I know that the club really want to strive to continue to grow it and continue to increase our impact in the community and reach as many people as we can through the many different initiatives that we support.
“This is one really important one to us. That’s why it’s not just about today, it’s about the ongoing support that the club provides to this programme, to help the people in the community who need it the most.”
It really helps when key figures show up at events like this, be that McKenna or members of the first-team squad. They’ve all made sure to support local charities regularly, both to offer a helping hand and provide extra awareness within the community.
When signing a player, it’s important that they have all the right strengths on the pitch, but CEO Mark Ashton has stressed that they need to have the right type of personality as well. Doing work like this is often a big indication.
“For those of us who are in the more public positions, it’s important that we can put our support behind the cause as well,” McKenna said. “That can raise awareness for the work that’s being done, and increasing awareness can hopefully increase support from within the community.
“There’s so many people involved with the football club and involved with the foundation who are doing so much good work. For us on the football side, it’s important that we can put our names behind it and our time to it as well. Hopefully that can encourage others to do the same.
