Two Newcastle Jets players experienced front-line food rescue operations with OzHarvest Newcastle on Thursday ahead of the club’s April 1 community match, and final home game of the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season against Western Sydney Wanderers.
Daniel Mullen and Ben Kennedy joined OzHarvest drivers in their bright yellow vans on Thursday 9 March 2017 to collect surplus food from one of the valued community organisation’s food donors, and then redistributed it to a local charity that supports people in need.
The Jets’ major community partner, Greater Bank, is match day sponsor of the Round 25 clash. Greater Bank and Newcastle Jets are using the match to raise awareness of the work done by OzHarvest in the community, which includes the delivery of food to The Big Issue Street Soccer program every Thursday afternoon.
OzHarvest is a charity partner of the bank’s charitable foundation. Greater Charitable Foundation has donated $50,000 to OzHarvest for its new NEST (Nutrition Education Sustenance Training) program in the Hunter for two years. The four-week program is designed to teach community members how to shop and cook low cost nutritious meals. Both Mullen and Kennedy donned aprons at a NEST session earlier this season.
The April 1 community match is part of the Greater Bank supported Jets: Connect program which also incorporates free kids coaching clinics, more than 30 school visits as well as regular community and charity appearances by Jets players and coaching staff.
OzHarvest together with the Greater Charitable Foundation and Greater Bank will have a strong presence at the club’s round 25 home match. Indeed, the McDonald Jones Stadium precinct will come to life pre-game, with OzHarvest cooking demonstrations, face painting, inflatable games, and other football activities occurring outside the western entrance from 4:00pm to 5:30pm.
The match between the Jets and Western Sydney Wanderers will kick-off at 5:35pm.
Newcastle Jets v Western Sydney Wanderers – Hyundai A-League 2016/17 Round 25
When: Saturday 1 April 2017
Where: McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
Pre-Game Fun Fair: 4:00pm – 5:30pm (western car park, McDonald Jones Stadium)
Match Kick-Off: 5:35pm
Social Media: Join the match conversation using #NEWvWSW
Tickets: Please click here to purchase match tickets
