Wrap Up Warm campaign raises over £90000 to help tackle ...

The initiative was run in partnership with the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust and thanks to the Chelsea family, over 3,600 items of warm clothing have been donated throughout the festive period, while more than £90,000 has been raised to support charities tackling homelessness and its root causes every day, including contributions from supporters, both men’s and women’s teams, and proceeds of the club’s festive retail range.

Launched via a star-studded, heart-warming video captured at Stamford Bridge, the Wrap Up Warm campaign enabled the club and our supporters to come together to support the most vulnerable members of the local community in what can be a challenging time for so many.

Donated clothing was collected on matchdays at Stamford Bridge alongside the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust and distributed to charities supporting the 3,200 people sleeping rough in south-west London alone last year. As part of the campaign, players from both men’s and women’s squads supported the clothing donations and saw the valuable work being done at homelessness charities first-hand. Members of Chelsea’s women’s team visited SPEAR while players from the men’s squad joined staff and beneficiaries of Barons Court Project, the only day centre in Hammersmith and Fulham supporting people experiencing homelessness.

Meanwhile, young players from the Chelsea Academy partnered with Rentstart, a charity supporting homelessness in Elmbridge, the Surrey district that is home to our Cobham training HQ. To assist people during the festive season, they created and distributed hampers and provided essential living supplies.

Laura Cordingley, chief executive of Chelsea Foundation, said: ‘We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has shown support to the Wrap Up Warm campaign. To surpass our clothing donation target, which will have helped more than the number of people who were sleeping rough in south-west London alone last year, is testament to our supporters, staff and residents.

‘However, we realise clothing donations are a short-term solution to a long-term, societal problem. Therefore, we are also delighted to have in addition raised over £90,000 which will now be used to support charities tackling homelessness and its root causes in London long term, and we look forward to working with those charities on this vital work.

‘I would like to thank everyone who has supported the campaign either by clothing or financial donations, it is another clear example of the power of football and the Chelsea family, and how we can make a huge difference to our local community when working together.’