Big-hearted fundraiser still full of ideas after five years of walking, fundraising - and samosas
A Wolves fan and charity super-fundraiser who brings football and food together for good causes is celebrating five years of Samosa Saturdays.
Manny Singh Kang has been providing samosas to football supporters for the last five years. The hugely popular initiative sees volunteers hand out thousands of samosas to supporters in exchange for donations to Dementia UK.
The initiative has taken place 20 times from a marquee opposite the Wolverhampton University Ambika Paul Building, overlooking Wolverhampton Wanderers' home Molineux, and has raised more than £250,000 for Dementia UK since the first event on November 3, 2018 when Wolves played Tottenham Hotspur.
It has proved a popular part of matchdays for supporters, with many stopping by to grab a bite and pitch in. It has also garnered support from Wolverhampton-born celebrities such as singer Beverley Knight and broadcasters Suzi Perry and Jacqui Oatley.
Mr Singh Kang, 50, said the idea for Samosa Saturday had come from looking at ways to raise funds for the charity without doing a simple bucket collection.
He said: "I'm a volunteer ambassador for Dementia UK and we thought about how we could involve as many fans from a 30,000-seater stadium and what we could do to engage with everyone.
"We didn't really fancy shaking buckets and asking for money, so we thought about whether we could give them something and the Samosa Saturday idea was born out of speaking to my parents and family and talking about giving out samosas - as everyone loves a samosa.
"We first started doing it at the Wolves vs Spurs game, which was a night game under the lights, and I borrowed someone's marquee and lights and we put up a stall, then raised around £3,000, which was unbelievable at the time, and it's just gone from there."
