First-team players Eiran Cashin and Louie Sibley joined Derby County Community Trust’s weekly Community Meal at Harrison’s Hub as part of the EFL Week of Action. 

The week aims to shine a spotlight on the vast work being delivered in communities by all 72 English Football League clubs. 

Harrison’s Hub opened its doors in November 2022, and since then, has played host to a huge range of sessions  - from fortnightly coffee mornings for over 60s to men’s mental health support evenings. 

An integral part of the opening the community venue was to provide a warm and welcome space throughout the winter months, where food would be provided. 

Weekly Community Meals and ‘Communi-tea’ – a drop-in lunch time session serving soup and hot drinks – ran from December 2022 to May 2023, and have recently restarted for the winter months. 

Back in January of this year, the meals were showcased as part of the 2022/23 season’s EFL Week of Action, so players were invited back to see how much the project had grown since then. 

Participants on the day included youngsters who take part in the Trust’s Inclusion activities in local parks, who took part in a stadium tour before heading to the Hub for an evening meal. 

“It’s been a great turnout tonight and it’s great to give back to the community. I’ve grown up at Derby so for me to be able to give back is really important. We’ve had a lot of fun with everyone tonight and we’ve hopefully put a smile on some faces!” 

Eiran Cashin | Defender, Derby County FC

EFL Clubs support hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people all year round, with the demand continuing to rise from challenges including the current cost of living crisis. As evidenced in the EFL’s most recent community impact report, more than 840,000 participants engaged in EFL Club community activities over almost 580,000 hours during across the season. In the same period EFL Clubs delivered over £865m worth of social value to towns and cities across the country and generated more than £101m for community investment. 

Derby County Community Trust’s Community Meals run each Thursday from 4.30pm-6.30pm, and are open for members of the public to attend. Please follow the registration link to find out more: https://www.derbycountycommunitytrust.com/community-meals.