To kick off the festive season, Derby County Community Trust once again partnered up with Derby Food 4 Thought Alliance to bring back the popular Reverse Advent Calendar campaign. The concept involves collecting an item of tinned or dried goods, each day, for 25 days. The result is a full food parcel, which will be distributed across local communities in the run up to Christmas.

Over the last few years, Harrison’s Hub at Pride Park Stadium has become a main drop off point for donations at the start of December. This year DCCT collected over 350 donations from local businesses, schools and members of the public. Including a staggering 68 bags from Allestree Woodlands School, who are upping their donation amount year on year.

As a token of appreciation, complimentary tickets to watch the Rams play Millwall were gifted to those who donated parcels, courtesy of Derby County Football Club. Some lucky donors also got their tickets handed to them personally by Bobby Clark, Derby County Midfielder who joined Trust staff at the drop off point on Thursday evening.

A special thank you goes to local businesses including DNS Limited and Derby Runner who helped load and transport the parcels to Derby Food For Thought Alliance.

Katherine Wragg, Marketing and Communications Manager at Derby County Community Trust, said:

“We are once again overwhelmed with the kindness of businesses, community organisations and supporters. It was amazing to see all the parcels being brought into the hub and knowing what a difference they are going to make to people at this time of year. It’s a real team effort and the campaign embodies community spirit.”

Derby Food 4 Thought Alliance and Derby County Community Trust we would like to extend a huge thank you for the generosity and support that everyone has shown to the campaign this year. As ever, the donations will help to tackle food poverty in and around Derby this winter.