Aston Villa donate 700 lunches to homeless after Queens Park Rangers match is postponed
The packed lunches had been prepared for matchday staff at Villa Park but the game fell victim to Storm Emma
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ASTON VILLA have donated over 700 lunches to homeless charities after their clash with Queens Park Rangers was called off.
Villa had been hopeful of being able to play their Championship game despite the wintry weather that has gripped the country over the past week.
But Storm Emma had the final say as the icy conditions meant the match against the London club was postponed this morning.
By that time at least 750 packed lunches had been prepared for the matchday staff who had been expected to be on duty.
So to avoid all the food going to waste, promotion-chasing Villa put out an appeal on social media asking for homeless charities to get in touch.
Guy Rippon, head of fundraising and community partnerships at charity the Aston Villa Foundation, said: "On match days we have anything up to 1,000 packed lunches prepared for staff who are due to work that day.
"On this occasion, we had about 750 lunches, including sandwiches, crisps and pieces of fruit prepared and we didn't want them to go to waste just because the game was cancelled.
"We put an appeal out on social media and were overwhelmed with the response."
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The club were quickly approached by several agencies including Outreach Angels, the Pashtun Trust and the Salvation Army.
They were then able to distribute the food around, donating some to the YMCA.
Mr Rippon added: "That's what the foundation is all about, building the networks to support people in whatever way we can, especially in weather like this."
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Michala Roche, from the Outreach Angel charity which goes out on the streets of Birmingham every Tuesday to give food to the homeless, said: "We've got a van and car full of 300 fantastic lunch goodie bags which are going to come out with us tomorrow evening.
"The lunches will make such a difference. It's truly heartbreaking out there at the moment.
"A massive thank you to Aston Villa Football Club for supporting us."
The match has been rescheduled for Tuesday 13 March.