Leisure Leagues Salford raise money for 'Mission Christmas'

Leisure Leagues Salford raise money for Cash for Kids’ ‘Mission Christmas’ campaign

Leisure Leagues Salford, which run three six-a-side football leagues across Salford, are fundraising for Cash for Kids’ Mission Christmas initiative.

Cash for Kids is a charity which aims to support children, young people and families who are affected by poverty, abuse, neglect, life-limiting illness and those who have additional needs.

The charity runs a yearly campaign called ‘Mission Christmas’ and has raised £100 of the £200 target so far.

Simon Blinco, who runs Leisure Leagues Salford, is hoping to use his platform in the area to raise funds and awareness about the campaign.

The Salford resident believes the need to support children and families in the city this Christmas is greater than ever before, especially due to the increase in financial struggles across the nation.

He said: “It’s obviously hard for the kids, but it’s also hard for the parents. Times are so hard that they spend the majority of their time raising money to put food on the table, and to heat the house. So unfortunately, when Christmas comes along and they’ve got that added element, it makes it so much harder.

“My sister’s a primary school teacher. She sees the kids year in, year out. She sees the kids that are excited before the Christmas holidays, and she sees the kids that come back in January keeping their head down in conversations on ‘How was your Christmas?’ and it’s sad to see.”

He said: “We’re trying to raise money for Cash for Kids. They do a Mission Christmas every year. It’s to try and help kids who would usually go without a gift on Christmas. Mission Christmas try and get every child a gift to donate.

“You can either donate a gift, or raise money and Cash for Kids then purchase the gifts.”

There are multiple six-a-side teams in the Salford Leisure Leagues such as the Gangster’s Allardyce and the Dockyard Loyals.

Simon continued: “We have a big following on social media, with Leisure Leagues Salford. I have a lot of teams who have players who are media students and have large followings also, so I’ll get them involved.

“We’ve got a few plans for the actual league nights, for the teams that attend. We’ve got nearly 30 teams, each team tends to bring 10 people, so there’s at least 300 people that we see on a weekly basis that we can hopefully get to help as much as possible.”

You can click the link here to donate to this great cause.