A Dundonald football club is working to bring its community together with the launch of its new weekly breakfast club.
Dungoyne FC has recently started a breakfast club at its clubhouse in Ballybeen as a way of supporting its members and families while also bringing people together to build a stronger sense of community within the club.
Started by Kerry Anne Foster and Jenni McKee, it sees them prepare breakfast for all of the teams who are playing at home that week and has been supported by a number of local businesses who have provided them with fruit, cereal and baked goods.
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The club has between 350 to 400 members of all ages, however many of them will only interact with those who are on their teams and the breakfast club gives players and their families the opportunity to socialise and build relationships with others.
Kerry Anne said: "We have a huge club here in Dungoyne and we are wanting to do more to bring our community together while also giving a bit back to our members.
"This breakfast club is a way that we are able to do that by bringing different teams together to have a bite to eat in our clubhouse.
"The response that we have had so far has been incredible and it is great to see all of our players and families coming together here on a Saturday morning, although it can be a bit of a mad house.
"Everyone has been very supportive of it and a few days after we announced what we were doing, I had never seen so many toasters in my life, I think there were more than 10 donated all together.
"With the current cost of living issues people are facing it is also nice that we are able to do this and ease some of the pressures that parents might have in getting there little ones up and out on a Saturday morning.
"We also hope that visiting teams will soon be able to join us here on Saturday mornings so that we can build stronger relationships within our leagues and get to know other teams.
"We would just like to say thank you to everyone that has supported us, especially Asda, Dundonald McDonald's, Ballybeen Spar and Allied Bakeries."
Club chairman Ian McKee and Andy Harwood, Academy Director, said that Dungoyne is a continually growing club that is a big part of the Dundonald community and hoped that it can be a focal point in bringing new facilities to the area.
Ian said: "This clubhouse is great and gives our teams the opportunity to come together for barbecues, game nights or even a bit of education on our football, but we would like to see the expand and bring back some of the services that children here used to enjoy.
"We would love to see the return of a youth club to Ballybeen that would give our young people an outlet during the week outside of sport.
"We have hundreds of young people and around 70 coaches at the club who make it what it is, and we hope that in the future we can provide even more for them as a way of saying thanks for everything they do for Dungoyne."
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