Stockport County FC is delighted to announce the launch of its Food for Christmas campaign to provide meals to children in Stockport over the two-week Christmas break.

Following the decision by the UK Government not to provide free school meals over the Christmas holidays it is estimated that 7,500 children in Stockport will struggle to be fed over this period. The Club is aiming to raise the £220,000 needed to provide food vouchers and lift the burden on families at what should be a special time of year.

Club owner, Mark Stott said:

"This is a topic very close to my heart, growing up my mum relied on free school meals for both myself and my sister and it is devastating to think so many families will struggle over the Christmas period. I’d like to thank Marcus Rashford and everyone else who has campaigned and raised awareness on the subject.

We appreciate it’s been a difficult and uncertain time for lots of people this year but I’d like to call on all our fans and corporate sponsors, who find themselves in a more fortunate position to make a donation, anything they can afford, however large or small it all helps towards our goal of giving these families a Christmas to look forward to."

Mark has personally donated £100,000 to the campaign and the Club hopes to raise the remainder through a combination of Club Shop sales, corporate sponsors and donations from fans.

The Club is partnering with local charity Sector 3 to distribute the proceeds. Sector 3 supports individuals, organisations and communities through a multi-faceted suite of support, training, guidance and funding opportunities, enabling organisations to deliver social action on local priorities.

If the government do a u-turn at any point during the campaign the money will be donated to Sector 3 and partners to support families in need within the Stockport area over the Christmas period.