Liverpool Football Club will leave a lasting legacy in China this week by sponsoring the build of a new home for a low income family in Shanghai. Liverpool Football club has partnered with Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity is an international, non-profit organisation dedicated to eliminating poverty housing and homelessness from the world.
This particular volunteer build has been organised by the Chinese arm of Habitat for Humanity, in association with the worldwide housing charity’s Liverpool affiliate, which is also building 32 low-cost homes in the city’s Toxteth district.
It is believed to be the very first time a UK Premier League football club has funded a Habitat project anywhere in the world, this ground breaking move taken by the Premier League giants will also see Merseyside Business leaders roll up their sleeves and help build the home as Liverpool celebrates in the final day of its involvement at the World Expo.
Liverpool Managing Director, Christian Purslow, said: “Liverpool Football Club are very aware of the tremendous work that Habitat for Humanity do, both in our own city and abroad, and we are extremely pleased that our support will help provide a better home for this family in Shanghai. It represents a lasting legacy of the Expo, which everyone involved can be truly proud of. ”
There will be up to 20 volunteers from the Liverpool and surrounding business community to help build the new home which is for 57-year-old Ding Amao and his 85-year-old mother Chen Gengen. Their existing house was built in 1975 with wooden beams and mud bricks are not the ideal building materials for a home to be built with and the home is now deemed unsafe. This house lacks even the most basic of necessities for the family’s use.
Travelling to Shanghai to assist with the build is Rev Dr Shannon Ledbetter, chair of Liverpool Habitat for Humanity, who said: “This is a fantastic example of two Habitat organisations on opposite sides of the globe coming together to create a long-lasting legacy. Some high profile business leaders will be at the World Expo for Liverpool Day and we are really excited about the prospect of involving them in the China build and then, hopefully, welcoming them to our own site at Kingsley Road, in Granby-Toxteth.”
The General Manager of HFH China’s Shanghai office, Eric Arndt, added: “With the support of Liverpool Football Club and our sister organisation Liverpool Habitat for Humanity, we are helping complete the job of eradicating substandard housing in Pinghu. This partnership epitomises the way Habitat for Humanity brings together people from every walk of life and from every part of the world to build homes, transform lives and develop bonds between communities.”
Source: Liverpool FC official website.