Football-mad boys help raise vital funds for charity
Two football-mad schoolboys have raised hundreds of pounds for a pair of city charities.
George Screen and Charlie Cowley, both nine years old and from Stourbridge, took on a 5km dribbling challenge to fight homelessness and raised £900 to be divided between the Wolves Foundation’s Feed Our Pack project and local charity the Good Shepherd.
George said he was inspired to take on the challenge after seeing the homeless on the streets.
He said: "I saw a homeless person and I felt really bad for him, so I decided to start a fundraiser for the homeless in Wolverhampton and Feed Our Pack."
His best friend Charlie was keen to help, and the pair hatched a plan.
Charlie’s mum Nikki Sutton said: "George wanted him to do it too.
"Charlie’s going through cancer treatment at the moment; he was diagnosed with leukaemia three years ago but he’s doing really well now.
"He’s still on his treatment for another six months but he wanted to help George."
Following a search for charities who tackle food poverty, George’s mum Liz Screen found out about Feed Our Pack after messaging the Wolves Foundation.
She said: "I didn’t know where to start, but the Foundation suggested the Good Shepherd and the Feed Our Pack project, so George said he’d like to do it for both and split the donations half and half.
"George kept getting upset when he saw so many homeless people, so he wanted to do something.
"We tried to think of something different and football-based, so we came up with the idea of running while kicking a football – a ‘dribblathon’.
"They wanted to raise £500 and we’ve raised over £900 now. The boys have done so well."
The boys each received a special stadium tour at Molineux as a ‘thank you’, before being surprised with a Wolves goodie bag and two tickets each to the Wolves V Brighton game next weekend.
As well as the money raised, the boys, who both attend Peter’s Hill Primary School, also collected more than £50 of food in tins, packs and boxes to donate to Feed Our Pack.
Ollie Locker, food poverty project manager at Wolves Foundation, said: "What the boys have done is absolutely fantastic and we are so grateful for their efforts.
"To have that initiative at such a young age, and the drive to help those less fortunate is a credit to them and their families.
"The money will go towards Feed Our Pack delivery, providing support for the city’s food banks, food parcels to combat holiday hunger, and activity camps for local children.
"The boys should be really proud of what they have achieved."
To find out more about the Foundation and to get involved, go to wolves.co.uk/foundation/feed-our-pack/
