Young Crawley volunteers raising £1,000 for the homeless get ministerial visit
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Teenagers explained their planned fundraisers for Crawley Open house to Chris Grayling MP at Crawley Town FC’s stadium on Thursday (April 7).
The ten-strong team were to put on a ‘fun day’ and host a topless firefighters’ car wash at the stadium as part of their National Citizen Service (NCS) programme backed by the club’s Community Foundation.
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Hide AdMr Grayling, MP for Epsom & Ewell, said: “I’ve visited a number of club foundation projects before but it’s the first time I’ve seen a smaller football club supporting a NCS project which is great.
“Running a club in the lower divisions and to still be able to do the same kind of community work [as one in the Premiership] is really encouraging.”
The volunteers, who had given up their Easter holidays to plan their fundraisers, spoke of how they bonded in a residential trip and of their compassion for the town’s rough sleepers.
Josh Meek, 17, who goes to Oriel High School and is a double world champion kickboxer, said: “I like to give, there’s quite a lot of homeless people in town, when I see them it’s sad.”
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Hide AdErtug Vanli, 17, of Ifield Community College, said his teammates had given money to the same homeless people.
The volunteers will run fundraisers on the ‘fun day’ during the Reds’ home game against Carlisle on April 23.
Crawley firefighters are hoped to be topless for the car hose-down on April 17.
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