Coronavirus: Joe Cole makes £25,000 donation to charity offering meals and support to NHS staff

Several names from the football world are leading the calls for donations

Former England international Joe Cole has donated £25,000 to a charity supporting NHS workers and urges others to give what they can.

The healthcare workers around Britain are coming under increasing workloads as the coronavirus pandemic continues and the charity benefitting from Cole’s contribution aims to supply meals, childcare and any other support NHS staff require.

More than just a current concern, Cole says this battle faced by many of the world’s population is the defining moment of an entire era and encourages everyone to act accordingly.

“I feel like this is a call of our generation,” he said.

“We need to stick together and these people who are doing what they are doing in hospitals up and down the country it is unbelievable.

“By donating or offering your business at some point, everything that can be given will be used on the frontline. If you can give, please (do) and just take a look.”

The former Chelsea, Liverpool and West Ham playmaker has become an ambassador for the charity as well as giving his donation.

Cole is the latest figure from the football world to offer support to NHS workers and he says the organisation, called Heroes, offers much-needed services.

“The men and women are really digging in for us at the moment in very, very difficult circumstances and what Heroes is, is a fundraiser primarily that will help deliver fresh meals to the workers after they finish their shifts or before they finish their shifts, help with childcare so they can stay at work, psychological help from experts being called into the field, all sorts of things that we the British public can help with.”

Wilf Zaha, Roman Abramovich and Andy Robertson are others who have made notable charitable donations or offered homes to hospital staff over the past couple of weeks.