Gosport Borough on course to reach £6,000 target to help feed the needy – thanks to the efforts of the club’s youngsters

The Southern League set up the online donation page - titled ‘Feed a Family in Need with the Boro' - on April 20 with a view to raising £2,500 to buy food to deliver to those in their community struggling during life in lockdown.

That was quickly reached, so a new target was set at £6,000.

As of this morning, the total was £5,182 but youth teams at the club are set to donate £745 - taking the total to £5,927.

The club’s under-10 Reds side raised £300, and the under-8 Grey team and their parents donated £100.

On top of that, the club’s under-11 Black team raised £300 doing a ‘keepy uppy’ challenge and this was donated directly to the feed a family fund.

One squad member, Jimi Webb, raised an additional £250 as a result of shaving his hair off.

Chris Webb, who coaches the under-11 Blacks, is also in charge of the Gosport & Fareham district under-11 side. That squad have also raised £100 towards Borough’s fund via a ‘keepy up’ challenge.

Gosport’s Crowdfunder, therefore, has been a real club effort - within days of it going live, first team boss Lee Molyneaux and many of his squad had pledged cash.

Elsewhere, Wessex Funeral Services have pledged £250, John Ridley £200, Terry Hannam £130 and Dean Perry, Richard Coulbert, Kate Davis and Jeremy Fox £100 each.

The News have previously reported an anonymous donation of £555.

‘The community has really bought into it, it’s been amazing,’ said Webb, who has been down at Privett Park most days helping deliver food parcels.

He also goes around picking up donations - be it food or other items such as egg boxes.

Webb added: ‘We’ve had people ring up and say they were going out to do a shop, they were happy to chuck another £20 on top for us and what did we need?

‘One young girl raised £7 from selling books outside her house, her dad raised it to a tenner and she’s going to do a £10 shop for us.

‘The community has been brilliant, it’s been non-stop.’

Keith Slater, Borough’s clubhouse manager, has been overseeing the club’s efforts since mid-March.

‘It’s just kept on going,’ he said. ‘We’ve been incredibly busy in the last few weeks - demand has probably gone up by 40 or 45 per cent.

‘There really has been a spike, we’ve had schools contacting us regarding new families we can help.

‘There’s definitely more demand - we’re doing around 40-45 deliveries every Monday and Friday.

‘These are probably people who have never had to ask for help before, so they’re not any lists.’

Gosport have been collecting weekly donations from Morrisons, Lidl and Waitrose, and have also recently started adding fresh fruit and vegetables to their food parcels.

But while the donations show no sign of ending, Slater said he has also been spending ‘between £500 and £600 a week’ on food to make up all the parcels required.

‘That how big the demand has been,’ he remarked.

Slater is also delighted the club’s youngsters have got involved.

‘They’ve come on board with some really good ideas,’ he said.

‘People just want to help.’