Unity in Community
Keith Mabbutt
Founder & CEO of The Street Soccer Foundation I Founder of Football For Good Global Inc I Co-Founder of The Big Goal I Co-Founder of Walk 92
Firstly, I hope those of you reading this managed to have a good Christmas despite the difficult circumstances over the festive break and that the New Year has started with you in good health.
2020 was certainly a year we won’t miss. Dare I even mention the word ‘coronavirus’ – with its unprecedented affect across the globe.
Now in January 2021, ten months on from the start of the pandemic, and we are all having to acclimatise to this new way of living. There remains on-going challenges for most, yet I am proud to say that our purposeful charity work continued to be delivered throughout the course of December, and indeed the past year – both locally as well as nationwide; helping to support communities across the country and vulnerable and homeless young people who needed help the most.
Later this month we will release our 2020 Impact Report which shows how, despite the fact when COVID-19 hit in March, we did what we set out in our charity mission statement: ensuring we delivered on our core values of being committed, community-led, partnership-driven and resilient. We adapted our work to make sure that we continued to support our communities.
Several of our young participants during the past few months have reported feeling vulnerable and isolated, with anxiety, frustration and uncertainty affecting the mental health and well-being of many. This is why we invested into launching our new free mobile app, ‘matchFit’. I would really appreciate you downloading it and encouraging your friends and family members to do the same. You can do so via this link:
https://streetsoccerfoundation.org.uk/matchfit
Last year we coined the term ‘Street Soccer United’ to reflect and represent the fact that throughout the difficulties, our team, partners, and local community truly came together to stand united to help others.
As we continue to navigate our way through this pandemic and beyond, I am acutely aware of the ever-growing demand of our service provision.
Everyone involved at the Foundation remains committed to making a difference to the lives of others – and to using the power of football to achieve on such. Let’s take a positive from last year – the strength of unity in community. Let’s continue to be here for each other and do all we can to look after ourselves and those around us.
Here’s to a more healthy, fun and positive year ahead.
Together, Changing Lives through Football.
Keith