North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson welcomes the Swindon Town Community Foundation to Westminster to watch them recieve the English Football League Community Club of the Season Award for League Two at the EFL Trust Community Awards.
The Awards are a great way to recognise the fantastic charitable and social work of the 72 members of EFL’s network of Community Club Organisations and to highlight their excellent projects, clubs and players.
The STFC Community Foundation provides a number of important projects which support the local community. A huge variety of people benefit from the programs provided by STFC Community Foundation, including people with disabilities, young and elderly people, and people from many other backgrounds.
The Community Foundation’s work with refugees and asylum seekers was particularly praised, and Justin was very pleased to meet Yacob who has been supported by the program. Working with the Harbour Project and Wiltshire Wildlife Trust there is a weekly football session for refugees and asylum seekers. The football sessions help them maintain their physical and mental wellbeing, as well as helping them to build on their communication skills and forge a strong support network within the local community.
In addition to this, the Community Trust has worked with homelessness charity Threshold to provide football sessions, and wider support, for the homeless. The Community Trust has also joined together with Swindon Down’s Syndrome Group and national charity DSActive to provide people with Down’s Syndrome the opportunity to be active and enjoy sport.
Justin Tomlinson said:"This is a very proud moment for Jon Holloway, Shane Hewlett and their team, and I am delighted to see that their amazing work to harness football as a way to benefit the local community. What makes organisations like the Swindon Town Community Foundation so important and impactful is their ability to bring together different charities and community groups, so that by working together they can create innovative initiatives and identify people who can benefit from them. I will wishing them all the best for next week when the overall winners in each category are announced."
