Aston Villa partners with hospice and hospital

Aston Villa partners with hospice and hospital

Aston Villa Football Club are delighted to announce that Acorns Children’s Hospice and Birmingham Children’s Hospital will be the club’s official Charity Partners for the next two seasons.

The partnership aims to raise awareness of each charity’s work, drive recruitment of volunteers and further enhance the service they provide to families across Birmingham and the West Midlands.

Chief Executive Christian Purslow said “We are delighted to announce that Acorns Children’s Hospice and Birmingham Children’s Hospital will be Aston Villa Football Club’s official Charity Partners for the 2019/20 and 20/21 seasons. The official Charity Partnership is something that we have been talking to both charities about for some time. Both organisations have a long association with the club and are regarded as national and international leaders in their respective fields. One of the main objectives of the partnerships is to raise awareness of Acorns Children’s Hospice and Birmingham Children’s Hospital with the Villa and wider football family across the globe. Alongside that, we are very excited to be working with them on a day to day basis through our own Foundation to explore opportunities to work together on various projects and activities.”

A long-standing relationship

Established in 1988, Acorns Children’s Hospice Trust is a registered charity offering a network of care, support, fun and laughter for life limited and life threatened babies, children and young people and their families, across the heart of England. Aston Villa have supported Acorns since 2006 and have a long-standing relationship with the charity with their logo adorning the club’s shirts between 2008-2010. Over the past 12 months, Acorns have cared for more than 870 children and have supported more than 1,140 families across the West Midlands.

Toby Porter, Chief Executive at Acorns, said: “We are thrilled to be kicking off our partnership with Aston Villa Football Club for the next two seasons. Our connection with the club and all the fans goes back many years and we’re excited to build on that fantastic legacy. Acorns relies on the support of the community to continue providing our vital care to children and families – so this partnership and the involvement of the Foundation will play an instrumental role towards our work over the coming years.”

90,000 children and young people every year

Birmingham Children’s Hospital is a leading UK specialist paediatric centre, offering expert care to over 90,000 children and young people from across the country every year. Delivering some of the most advanced treatments, complex surgical procedures and cutting-edge research and development, the hospital treats one in five children from Birmingham and one in eight from the wider West Midlands. Every patient and family at Birmingham Children’s Hospital will have been touched by the hospital’s charity in some way and it continually strives to do more for the sick children in its care. The fundraising makes a real difference to the services it provides to children and their families during difficult times.

Louise McCathie, Director of Fundraising at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are absolutely delighted that the Aston Villa has chosen to support us in this way. We have a long-standing relationship with the club and its Foundation and this significant extension to our partnership will make a huge and heartfelt difference to the lives of our brave children, young people and their families.”