Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo eager to engage community after £250,000 donation to fight poverty

Nuno made the personal donation to help launch Feed Our Pack, a project organised by the Wolves Foundation which will address issues including holiday hunger and support city residents affected by the pandemic.

Explaining why he decided to get involved, the Wolves head coach highlighted fears over the divisions he sees emerging in society, as he urged others to get involved and support the cause.

Nuno said: “What I hope is to engage the community so that people that can help, do help. It is not just about getting financial support but getting engaged, getting volunteers.

“Many people are volunteering themselves on a daily basis to distribute food, the bags and transport. Behind the scenes, they are the true heroes of this moment. I am just one more.

“The main idea is to engage as many people as possible, inside of the club, outside in the community, people who feel it from the heart to help each other. If you can, please do it.”

Nuno’s donation matched a £250,000 grant from the Premier League PFA Community Fund to launch Feed Our Pack, which will support selected food banks in the city, with the aim of increasing the volume of food being distributed.

Figures from last year show that nearly one third of youngsters in Wolverhampton are classed as living in poverty.

More than £25,000 has already been raised since news of Nuno’s donation emerged on Thursday night. Members of the public have been able to contribute through a Just Giving page, while Wolves are also selling virtual tickets for their home Premier League match against Liverpool on March 13.

Nuno continued: “We (as players and management) are in a bubble but we are affected hugely by what’s happening.

“I go around Wolverhampton as many times as I can and I feel the problems – the poverty and the struggle of the people.

“For me it’s simple: I will try to help those that are closer to me where I can really impact, which is in the community.”

Asked about his fears for the future, Nuno replied: “I think the signs are not positive and I am really uncertain.

“I see division. I see political decisions like closing borders - and I understand the reason and that it makes sense - but there is a real danger that through time what kind of world are we going to leave?

“What is going to be our freedom? Are we going to get used to being so far away from each other that we cannot even touch or shake hands?

“I’m personally very worried and this project is an alert to that situation. We need to keep close to each other because we want at some stage to go back to normal, not to a new bad and awful normal, worse than we were before.

“Thank god the vaccine and distribution is increasing, we are seeing more people getting better and the numbers are coming down.

“But the problem of poverty and those things this project focuses on are going to stay. There has to be a continuation.

“We are going to be involved and I am going to be involved because this problem is unfortunately going to be around for some time.”

Visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/FeedOurPack to donate funds.