News
The Last Word
Sat 12th September 2015
Foundation Manager Connal Cochrane has written ‘The Last Word’ in the match day programme for Rangers V Livingston talking about Armed Forces Day, the Foundation’s new partnership with services related charities and our work this season. If you don’t have the opportunity to read the article in the special commemorative programme, you can hear his thoughts in full here!
Today is Armed Forces Day at Ibrox and the welcome we will give our special guests today will be second to none. The Rangers Charity Foundation is proud of its role in organising this annual event and on behalf of everyone at the Club I would like to extend the warmest of welcomes to our friends in the Armed Forces. £1 from each programme sale today is being donated by the Club to the Foundation’s new Armed Forces partnership in support of the Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity, ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the RAF Benevolent Fund and Erskine. We are very grateful to the Club for this gesture and to the thousands of fans who bought a programme.
Football does of course come first but what we achieve off the pitch in support of others can be powerful not just on days such as today but week after week and year on year. The charitable spirit at Rangers is truly something to behold. I’ve been with the Rangers Charity Foundation for over 10 years and with the fans backing we have grown into what I believe to be a tremendous force for good on behalf of the Rangers Family. Long may that continue!
Just last week the Rangers fans showed their true colours by responding in huge numbers to our appeal for assistance for our local food bank. Thousands of pounds worth of food was donated and staff at the food bank were overwhelmed by the generosity shown. On Wednesday, the Foundation launched a new partnership with Glasgow City Mission with the help of Andy Halliday. We are pledging £25,000 in support of Glasgow’s Winter Night Shelter for the homeless and our funding will mean that the shelter will be able to stay open for an extra month this coming winter, providing a warm, safe place to spend the night for those who have no alternative but to sleep on the streets.
Our link-up this week with Glasgow City Mission completes the range of charity partnerships announced by the Rangers Charity Foundation in recent weeks which includes: National Partner Alzheimer Scotland; International Partner Unicef UK; an Armed Forces partnership supporting four services related charities and a strong association with Yorkhill Children’s Charity. Of course it’s not just via these partnerships that we demonstrate our charitable values, but also by working tirelessly to make in-kind donations to hundreds of people and organisations in communities up and down the country who are raising funds for causes close to their heart or by inviting fans who are in need of a special boost to one of our Dream Days.
All of this would not be possible without your support and I would encourage you to share our pride in what we do, spread the word about our achievements and get involved in our fundraising activities and events. Over the coming months we have a sponsored Sleep Out in November in support of the Winter Night Shelter, a True Blue Hero Swim at Bellahouston on Sunday, 15 November and our biggest fundraiser of the year – the Rangers Charity Ball at the Hilton Glasgow on Saturday, 21 November, plus many more events throughout the season. If you are interested in any of these events we’d love to hear from you – Telephone 0141 580 8775 or send an email to rangerscharity@rangers.co.uk.
Enjoy today’s game and let’s celebrate Armed Forces Day at Ibrox.
