Dons scoop national accolade at EFL awards
We are delighted to announce that we’ve received the coveted Your Move Community Club of the Season honour at the EFL awards ceremony in London.
The award is glowing recognition of the fantastic work by our Foundation and the Dons Local Action Group in the community since we moved back to Wimbledon.
The EFL singled out the combined work of the Club, the Foundation, fans’ groups and community partners to develop a ‘One Club’ strategy, therefore maximising our community work.
AFC Wimbledon Foundation Director Phil Rudling said: “We are thrilled to collect this award on behalf of the Club, reflecting the community spirit of our journey back to Wimbledon and the wonderful community work across all sections of the Club.
“This has been exemplified by the volunteers of Dons Local Action Group, now part of the Foundation, the achievements of WiSH (Wimbledon in Sporting Heritage) and also the women's team, now playing at our stadium.
“The Foundation focuses on providing a range of activities and projects across Merton, Wandsworth and Kingston, targeting disadvantaged individuals and communities. This includes core work that allows participants to grow and thrive, therefore boosting health, education, and social inclusion.
“It's very apt that Maddi Sweetman collected the award tonight as she is the junior member of the Foundation staff team - she is a fantastic example of how the Foundation and the Club can help to generate opportunities for young people to achieve their dreams.”
Maddi, who is pictured below with the award, added: “It feels like something that the volunteers and everyone involved with our Club deserves, but something we never thought we'd get, especially because we see other clubs doing such large-scale projects.
“Working within our budget and just coming back to the stadium, it's hard to get things up and running straight away - to put an old system in a new structure. We've managed to get it going and managed to help the local community. It's brilliant that we've managed to get the award in the first year that we've really been out there creating the action projects."
Maddi is pictured below with Cormac van der Hoeven, Co-founder of the Dons Local Action Group.
We received our EFL London award last week and the picture below shows members of our Foundation team outside the House of Commons.
The Foundation is proud of the work of all staff, volunteers, supporters and members of our community that contribute towards the impact in the community.