Celtic to donate €10,000 to Feed Cork ahead of Super Cup appearance

A Scottish football club has announced they will donate €10,000 to a Cork charity during a visit to Leeside this month.

Representatives from Glasgow-based Celtic FC will make the donation to Feed Cork during a visit to Cork city on July 8.

The Scottish club visit Leeside next week to take on Cork City FC in the Cork Super Cup pre-season game at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Tony Hamilton, chief executive of the Celtic FC Foundation, said the club is proud to be supporting a charity that makes “such a big difference to people in need”.

“Feed Cork is a charitable organisation so close to our heart and we are delighted to be making this donation," said Mr Hamilton.

“The work being carried out in Cork and other areas is really in line with our own objectives and origins.

“It is tragic that food poverty continues to have such a crippling effect on so many people, but organisations such as Feed Cork continue to tackle this head-on and make such a big difference to people in need.” 

Hamp Sirmans, who is the director of Feed Cork, said the charity is sincerely thankful “for such significant support” from Celtic FC.

“We are so grateful to Celtic FC Foundation for a donation which will make such a real difference to our work,” said Mr Sirmans.

“Through this outstanding support, we will be able to develop our own resources and help more and more people.

 “So many families continue to struggle financially in Ireland and face huge challenges.

“Our commitment to helping them is absolute and our work will continue as long as this need exists.

“We sincerely thank Celtic for such significant support in helping us in our work.” 

Feed Cork was established in 2018 as a community outreach to address food poverty in the local community.

Since 2018, the charity’s network has expanded across five locations, including West Cork, Dublin, Clare and Wexford, and has provided more than 80,000 food hampers to families in Cork and more than four million meals.

In July of last year, Feed Cork opened Ireland's first Social Super Market, with clients now able to access food support in a comfortable shop setting.

This volunteer-led initiative runs every Wednesday and Thursday.

The charity also runs an After School Fuel programme, now in its fourth year, that last year saw 37,000 meals freshly made and distributed to local families.

Other initiatives run by Feed Cork include the provision of school uniform packs for schools and Christmas meals for families in need.