The Reds’ community work is conducted by the club’s charity, LFC Foundation, and dedicated local community programme, Red Neighbours.
LFC Foundation’s mission is to create life-changing opportunities for children and young people in Merseyside and beyond, and Red Neighbours specifically focuses on making a difference to people living in and around the Anfield area in the L4, L5 and L6 postcodes.
Matt Parish, director, LFC Foundation, said: “The 2018-19 season has been one of our best to date, with over 28,000 children and young people taking part in our programmes – which is an 86 per cent increase on the 2017-18 season.
“In addition to our programmes we have continued to forge strong relationships with our partners to extend our reach and impact further.
“A great example of this is through our partnership with IntoUniversity and the University of Liverpool, which has helped over 1,300 disadvantaged young people in North Liverpool to reach their education potential through a dedicated learning centre.”
Forbes Duff, senior manager, Red Neighbours, added: “As a club, we strive to be a good neighbour and support our local community. We have a social responsibility to do so, particularly in Anfield, which has some of the most deprived postcodes in the UK.
“All of our activities and events have been designed in response to local needs such as social isolation, food poverty and promoting healthy living through physical activity.
“Over 19,500 local people attended our activities and events last season, which is up 33 per cent from the previous season. Our work continues to go from strength to strength and we will continue to strive to reach more people in the local community.”
LFC Foundation and Red Neighbours continue to build close relationships with schools across the city, in particular the 25 schools that neighbour Anfield.
A snapshot of their delivery includes educational programmes, multi-sports sessions, half-term sports camps, breakfast clubs during school holidays at Anfield, social events and sports activities for local residents aged 50+, donating free match tickets to Anfield schools, matchday foodbank collections, and arranging for the school kids to meet Liverpool players.
During the school holidays, the free breakfast clubs provided a meal to more than 1,400 local people. Reds fans also helped the club to feed more than 3,037 local people through matchday foodbank donations, via the North Liverpool Foodbank.
Last season LFC Foundation invested more than £150,000 in their partner organisations – Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and IntoUniversity – which has helped to fund a range of innovative projects that will have a lasting legacy by improving the lives of young people in Merseyside and beyond.
Some of the numbers…
- 28,630 children and young people took part in LFC Foundation programmes during the 2018-19 season. This is up from 15,416 in the 2017-18 season – an 86 per cent increase.
- LFC Foundation worked with more than 8,000 primary school children in 24 of our partner schools.
- In partnership with IntoUniversity and the University of Liverpool, LFC Foundation has helped more than 1,300 disadvantaged young people in North Liverpool to reach their education potential.
- 652 young people and adults with complex and additional needs were supported through LFC Foundation school and community football sessions.
- 337 girls took part in LFC Foundation football sessions across 11 sites, with pathways into grassroots teams, to help grow the game.
- 1,642 young people in high crime areas attended LFC Foundation community football, educational and personal development sessions.
- 5,027 young people and family members took part in weekly LFC Foundation multi-sports and activity sessions and events in local parks.
- LFC Foundation’s international work reached 3,557 young people across the world.
- More than 19,500 members of the local community have participated in Red Neighbours’ activities and events during the 2018-19 season.
- More than 1,400 local families attended 20 Red Neighbours breakfast clubs held at Anfield during school half-term holidays and the summer holiday.
- More than 9,110kg of food collected – that’s a total of 3,037 people fed thanks to matchday foodbank collections.
- More than 2,200 residents aged 50+ took part in Red Neighbours’ monthly social events and sporting activities including Monday club, walking football and chair yoga.
- 1,100 local school kids from 25 local schools got the opportunity to enjoy a Premier League game for free at Anfield. Another 855 match tickets were donated by LFC partners for the local community and charities.
- 240 pupils had the opportunity to meet first-team players and spend time with their heroes at local schools in West Derby.