Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks is calling on the Blue Army to continue showing their community solidarity when Town host Coventry City on Saturday with volunteers collecting donations between midday and 2pm at Portman Road.

The group is building on the extraordinary success of the recent collection at the Wrexham match when supporters raised in excess of £650 and donated more than 150 advent calendars following a specific call-out for children growing up in poverty.

“Without this appeal we’d have had hardly any advent calendars to share,” Jane Basham, the Foodbank manager for Families in Need Ipswich (FIND). “I delivered a couple of food parcels myself and the gratitude and relief on people’s faces was palpable. One mum told me, ‘That’s just a luxury I can’t afford.’ Thank you all so very much.”

The next and final collection of 2025 focuses on a practical but often overlooked need, plastic bags. FIND spends thousands of pounds each year on bags so food parcels can be safely packed and delivered.

Supporters are being asked to bring spare strong, clean carriers that can be reused by the foodbank instead of going to waste.

Volunteer and logistics organiser James Rose emphasised why collective action matters: “Every collection shows what ordinary people can achieve when we act together. The advent calendar response proved it again.

“Bringing spare bags might sound small, but it saves FIND thousands of pounds that can instead go straight into feeding families. It’s a simple act that strengthens the whole community.”

Supporters from both Ipswich and Coventry are encouraged to bring:

Strong, reusable plastic carrier bags
Non-perishable food items
Cash donations

Collection points will be open from midday to 2.30pm, located in the FanZone and opposite Planet Blue. All donations go directly to FIND Ipswich.

Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks is part of the national Fans Supporting Foodbanks movement, which originated with Liverpool and Everton supporters in 2015. The initiative now spans 40-plus clubs across the English footballing pyramid, all united under the principle that Hunger Doesn't Wear Club Colours.

Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks can be contacted via ITFC.FSF@gmail.com, while they can be found on Facebook here and on Twitter here. Donations can be made via a GoFundMe page here.

Photo: Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks