A FOOTBALL club is holding a foodbank collection to help support residents facing financial hardship.

The Maldon and Tiptree Football Club and the Jammers Fans Association are hosting a foodbank collection with the Maldon Food Pantry.

The Maldon Food Pantry is part of the Churches Together group in Maldon which provides individuals and families in financial difficulties in Maldon and Heybridge with food parcels and essentials.

The club is hoping to get lots of items for Christmas hampers, including puddings, nuts, sweets, Christmas Cake and more.

Items such as toiletries, tinned foods, pasta and sauces, sugar, soup, long-life milk and nappies are also helpful for people in need.

The club has hosted multiple successful food bank collections in the last year for the Maldon Food Pantry and an Easter egg collection for Home Start Essex.

A spokesman for the Maldon and Tiptree FC said: “Our previous two collections have been really well received and we’re hoping for an even bigger haul this time around.

“Please bring your items to the ground on Park Drive.”

The football club has been working with the Jammers Fans Association, since its launch in 2021, to promote the club and benefit residents.

A spokesman for the Maldon Food Pantry said: “As of May 2013 this project has reached 5,400 people through 1,969 parcels.

“Referrals are through the CAB and other agencies and the parcels reach a wide variety of families or individuals in temporary need.

“Thank you to those supermarkets who allow collections and to the shoppers who make extra purchases to donate and thank you to all the Churches and individuals that have been donating food on a regular basis and putting it in the 'hole' in the Elim church door in Wantz Road.

“These donations are vital to the survival of the Food Pantry.”

Items are being collected at the Maldon and Tiptree FC ground in Park Drive on Saturday, December 3 from 1.30pm to 3pm.

The collection will be open alongside their game against Gorleston, which kicks off at 1pm.