On the EFL Day of Disabilities, the Club is celebrating and remembering the ways in which it has supported disabled fans and raised awareness and funds for disability in sport and within the wider community.
The Community Foundation Volunteer Scheme was established specifically to engage with people who have a disability and aims to help them by the activities carried out through the scheme.
The scheme is run entirely on a volunteer basis and the activities that the volunteers carry out aim to raise funds to help support disabled fans of the club as well as people in the community.
The activities that are carried out range from bucket collections, leaflet distribution, selling badges & scarves and offering a service to help get the staff at the ground get the ground ready for match days & projects.
The funds raised via the scheme go towards helping and supporting those who have disabilities, mainly those who have a love for the club.
The scheme has also raised vital awareness for the disabled community which helps to bridge the gap between the community and people with disabilities.
The work that the scheme has done already has really helped the raise the profile of the club and how it recognises the disabilities that people live with, helped to include the club in these peoples lives and raised funds for causes that can help to change lives.
As well as the scheme, the Club has a strong link with Bradford City Disability FC. Their training sessions are for everyone –any Disability, Ability, Age or Gender.
Their teams range from under 10s to under 16s and their adult teams play in five ability levels across two County Leagues. The Club also have the only Ladies disability team in Bradford, as well as a mental health team based at MIND in Bradford, who we saw play on the Northern Commercials pitch at half-time when the Bantams played against Sunderland.
The scheme has been recognised by organisations and Jaimie Dorward, Bradford City Disability Liaison Officer, has been asked to speak at conferences in various locations about the scheme.
For the last month, the Club has been working with Jaimie to film a video about the Community Foundation Volunteer Scheme which was broadcast at CAFE’s (Centre for Access to Football in Europe) conference in Bilbao. You can watch it here: