News

Supporters at Saturday’s match against Hearts showed they truly are Big Hearted Bears by helping raise just over £10,000 for the Rangers Charity Foundation.

The fantastic total means we will be able to create special experiences for even more people in need of a boost through our newly announced Rangers Charity Dream Fund.

Despite a downpour, a queue of fans had built up by 1pm at our memorabilia stall, which was forced to shelter from the rain under the Sandy Jardine Stand.

The miserable weather certainly didn’t put anyone off though, with items such as Rangers shirts from previous seasons and matchday programmes dating back over 40 years proving popular as supporters looked to add to their collections.

At the same time, more than 150 fans young and old had fun being photographed by one of our volunteers with an ‘I am a Big Hearted Bear’ cut out. A full gallery of all the pictures taken is on our Facebook page at facebook.com/officialrangerscharity.

It was our Big Hearted Bears Day pin badges that attracted most interest though. These were sold by our team of volunteers, who kindly gave up their time before the match, and by a number of supporters clubs on their way to Ibrox.

Inside the Stadium, a raffle for a signed football in the hospitality suites proved popular and the Foundation also tucked into 10% of the profits from a special charity pie.

As well as raising funds for the Foundation, Big Hearted Bears Day also gave us an opportunity to highlight and celebrate our work with the Rangers supporters.

The matchday programme included a Foundation feature and before the match kicked off our charity flag was brought onto the pitch by a former Rangers Charity Foundation Dream Day guest Austin Benson along with his uncle William Benson.

A video was then shown on the big screens announcing the new Rangers Charity Dream Fund and at half-time a second film featuring some of those who had taken part in the Foundation’s community programmes was shown, before the stars of that were welcomed onto the pitch alongside Rangers legend John ‘Bomber’ Brown.

On the day we also announced our new intitiative for supporters to get involved with – the True Blue Hero Pledge.

The Pledge allows people to commit to doing something for the Foundation over the course of Season 2017/18 with those raising over £100 invited to a special ceremony at Ibrox later in the year to receive a True Blue Hero medal from a Rangers first team player.

Thanking volunteers and supporters, Rangers Charity Director Connal Cochrane said: “The charitable spirit of the Rangers fans is something we have seen time and time again. It is world class.

“Big Hearted Bears Day was a great day for everyone connected with the Foundation to demonstrate that we are a force for good and to celebrate the difference we are making on behalf of the Rangers Family.

“Thank you to everyone who took part, from those who bought a pin badge to our volunteers who gave up their time – we are truly grateful and look forward to doing even more together over the course of this season.”