St Barnabas Hospice are benefitting from a group of Lincoln City fans who are fundraising alongside star striker, Matt Rhead, this season.
Following on from the success of last season, a group of Lincoln City Football Club fans have pledged to raise money for St Barnabas Hospice this season, alongside fan favourite, Matt Rhead.
Branding themselves as ‘The Mattadores’, the group of twelve fans each donate £1 to the Hospice when Matt Rhead either gets an assist, scores a goal, or gets Man of the Match in a Lincoln City game, so £12 per goal/assist/award in total. So far this season, this has raised £144 for the Hospice.
As well as this, Matt Rhead has also donated a signed Lincoln City home shirt to The Mattadores to help with their fundraising. This shirt has been auctioned on Ebay, and has brought in a wonderful £237.01 to add to their total.
Jon Clack, spokesperson for The Mattadores, said: “Last season when we first sponsored Matt, we asked him to name a charity for us to donate to if he scores any goals. In the end we managed to raise £1,400 for Matt’s chosen charity -The Douglas Macmillan Hospice in Staffordshire. This was from winning the league, the amazing FA Cup run and several very successful auctions and fan donations.
“This season, we have moved the charity closer to home and are hoping that Matt and the fans can help us raise a good amount for St Barnabas Hospice.
“Fingers crossed that Matt can score lots of goals and we can have a successful cup run in the Checkatrade Trophy, as well as gaining promotion to League 1!”
Hospice care is close to Matt Rhead’s heart, as two of his grandparents have been treated at Douglas Macmillan Hospice in Staffordshire.
Adrian Oke, Fundraising Manager at St Barnabas Hospice, said: “We can’t thank this group of fundraisers enough for their amazing efforts in order to raise money for our Hospice.
“It costs £11 million each year for us to continue providing free care to people in Lincolnshire living with a life-limiting or terminal illness, and their families and carers.
“The Mattadores have set a brilliant example to people about how easy it is to create a fundraising group for our Hospice, whilst doing something they love.”
St Barnabas is currently in the running to become one of two charities that Lincoln City Football Club will be supporting this year. You can vote for St Barnabas by visiting https://fans.vote/v/ACsaFyGnFmQ, sending your vote to charity@lincolncityfc.co.uk with your name and post code, or placing your vote in the box at the Lincoln City club shop. The deadline for voting is Thursday 18th January.