The foodbank which helps serve the local community – provides hundreds of food parcels to residents in the EH6 and EH7 postcodes every week and becomes increasingly busy around the festive period.
After training, Jake and Marijan went down to visit, meet some of the volunteers, and help package up and deliver food parcels.
The First Team players spent the afternoon organising and sorting donations before packing up the food parcels to be sent out to individuals and families in the local community.
Partnering with other charities – including the Hibernian Community Foundation – the foodbank works on a voucher system, whereby residents can swap their voucher for a food parcel.
With the increasing rise of the cost of living, unfortunately more and more people are having to rely on support from these foodbanks around the country.
Alison Roxburgh, General Manager at the North East Edinburgh Foodbank commented: “We’ve been running this foodbank for nine years, we cover Leith, and we’ve supported nearly 5,000 people this year.
“At Christmas time we get a lot of donations from different companies, so it’s been great that Jake and Marijan have come down to help sort out the food that’s been donated for us. Donations are really helpful at this time of year to keep our stocks high, so we can help people going into the New Year.
“We’ve been working with the Hibernian Community Foundation on their Christmas Appeal and have been able to refer some of our clients to them for dinner on Christmas Day. This is hugely important for them as many don’t have cooking facilities or are isolated, so for them to be able to go along is a huge thing, and it really benefits their mental health.”
Hibs midfielder, Jake Doyle-Hayes added: “Marijan and I came down to help pack some boxes and make up some food parcels for people in the local community.
“I think it’s really important all year round, but especially at Christmas, for us to give back to the community. They support us all the time, so we need to give back to them.
“It’s always nice to help people and to make a difference, so we’re both glad we had the opportunity to do this.”
Daljit Singh, Director at the Hibernian Community Foundation, said: “It’s important that the Foundation supports initiatives on our doorstep, that do so much for the local community.
“The Hibs fanbase have always done this, and we’ll make sure it continues this Christmas and throughout winter.”
This is just one of the many initiatives the Hibernian Community Foundation is supporting as part of the Christmas Appeal.
On Christmas Day, the Foundation will be providing Christmas Lunch for 500 people, hosting hundreds of people at Easter Road for a festive bite to eat and delivering hundreds of other meals to members of the local community.
CLICK HERE to find out more about the HCF Christmas Appeal and to donate!
