A football fan initiative to tackle food poverty has been shortlisted for a Pride of Britain award.
Fans Supporting Foodbanks was set up by Everton supporters Dave Kelly and Robert Daniels alongside Liverpool fan Ian Byrne, now Labour’s West Derby MP.
The trio began collecting food donations outside Goodison Park and Anfield on match days in October 2015 to raise much-needed supplies for local foodbanks.
Since that launch almost a decade ago, the campaign has expanded vastly with Liverpool and Everton offering their respective strong backing to the cause.
It has also seen a nationwide network of football supporters joining to help out their communities in several other impacted areas including London and the North East..
In recognition of their efforts, Fans Supporting Foodbanks is in the running for the Pride of Britain, which has commended the nation’s unsung heroes since 1999.
Dave Kelly said: “The sixth richest economy in the world shouldn’t have people who are reliant on foodbanks, but I think one of the great things about this (Fans Supporting Foodbanks) is that none of us are judgmental.
“We don’t judge anybody, we treat everybody as an equal, engage with them as equals, and I think that’s really important.
“I’ll often say to people that ‘you don’t know if the kid next door, or the pensioner living on the corner of your street is going hungry.
“You don’t know if they ate a meal yesterday, you don’t know whether they went to bed last night hungry, we know people are.”
The Pride of Britain Awards nominations close on August 10.
Details of how to vote for Fans Supporting Foodbanks or any other unsung heroes can be found here.