BT Volunteers help at Mental Health Tournament

The Crystal Palace FC Academy Dome played host to Palace for Life Foundation’s annual Croydon Eagles Mental Health Tournament. The event offers local people a chance to experience an exciting day of football with other like-minded people, who otherwise may not get the opportunity.

The fun-filled event was fantastically supported by a group of volunteers from BT. This initiative is a major part of the Premier League/BT Disability Fund that helps the Foundation engage with some of the most hard-to-reach areas in the community.

The volunteers had turned up ready to help in any way, but were surprised to find out that there had been a late withdrawal from one of the teams. As a result, the ‘BT All Stars’ were formed, and they found themselves playing in the 6-a-side tournament. Most of the volunteers had not met each other prior to their arrival, but did incredibly well as a team, and even won a few games.

Tracey Gill, BT Cloud Phone Team Leader, was positive about their involvement in the day:

“All of us enjoyed ourselves and were especially happy to be able to play in the tournament. It was very tiring but a lot of fun. The way the day was organised and managed was very professional and I would gladly volunteer again in the future.”

The Foundation’s Disability Manager Michael Harrington, who oversees the Foundation’s Premier League/BT Disability-funded Inclusive Eagles programme, summed up what he thought the volunteers bring to events like this:

“These fantastic events are a pleasure to be part of but can be very demanding on manpower, so for the Foundation to have the opportunity to call on BT staff at times like these to offer us first-class volunteers is vital to allow us to continue the work we do that helps so many people who otherwise may not have access to these types of opportunities.”