Shop Tickets Login / Sign up NEWS MATCHES PALACE TV Crystal palace Vieira and Parish join Palace for Life at celebration evening FOUNDATION 15 hours ago Palace for Life Foundation welcomed 130 guests, including Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira and Chairman Steve Parish, to celebrate achievements of the past two years while looking ahead to the future. Vieira joined guests and youngsters at Selhurst Park on Thursday night (25th November) to celebrate Palace for Life Foundation’s work in the community. Joined by Parish, Foundation patron Susanna Reid and Palace legend Mark Bright, guests were shown highlights of Palace for Life’s work over the last two years and were urged to keep supporting young people to help create a more positive future for south London. Vieira participated in a Q&A session with host Jim Daly, where he spoke about how special Palace for Life Foundation is and its impact on the community. He also discussed setting up his own Foundation in Senegal while he was a player and his beliefs on football being a tool for education. He said: “Tonight is why I love football, because it brings people together. Using football to bring people together is something I strongly believe in, and I’m really proud to support Palace For Life and the work they do. It’s incredible to have @CPFC manager Patrick Vieira attending as one of our guests this evening! 🤩 Thank you for attending, Patrick! 🦅#CelebratePalace pic.twitter.com/3QIZsfQpoP — Palace for Life Fdn. (@PalaceForLife) November 25, 2021 “People don’t realise the power of football and the impact that it can have on the community.” Perhaps Vieira's hardest questions came from the DS Eagles, who asked if the side would finish in the top four, with the manager promising he’d take them for dinner if they did! The event was also attended by representatives from the Premier League, Metropolitan Police and local councils amongst others, and several Palace fans who had gone above and beyond to support the Foundation and their community. The audience heard from a number of young people, including Angel O’Dwyer who was once a young Palace for Life participant and is now a full-time member of staff. O'Dwyer spoke briefly about her journey before explaining the realities of knife crime and the real-life impact it has on young people from SE25 and beyond, including her, and the work Palace for Life are doing to counter this. Her moving talk resonated with Susanna Reid, who shared a story about her own experiences with knife crime, reiterating that she’s glad organisations such as Palace for Life help to prevent more of these tragedies. Reid said: “I’ve been so moved to hear about all the amazing work that Palace For Life have been doing to reduce knife crime in south London. It is a cause very close to my heart. “It’s magical to see the work Palace For Life have done and will continue to do. I am so delighted to be a patron; it really does make you south London and proud.” During the night the Foundation were joined by participants of the Get Involved project which aims to break down barriers to football in the Asian and Muslim community. Participants Akran and Abdullah shared that without the project they wouldn’t know what they’d want to do with their lives, but are now completing their FA Coaching badges and are in volunteering and paid roles. Palace for Life Foundation HOW TO SUPPORT Project lead, Hazmi Bahrin, explained that the programme is much more than just playing football, and that through mixing with other Palace programmes it has provided a powerful education piece - with other young people helping to stop for prayer and learning about their culture and religion. The evening ended with Brandon of the DS Eagles and his mum Sandra taking to the stage to share the importance of weekly Down’s Syndrome football sessions. Not only for Brandon, who loves to play matches and have fun with his friends, but also for Sandra, who has met some of her best friends thanks to the DS Eagles. Throughout lockdown football had to stop, but Palace coaches provided weekly video calls for the team, including football activities, quizzes and appearances from Palace players. On these, Sandra said: “The video calls were a lifesaver. At the start of lockdown I didn’t really know what to do. Brandon didn’t really understand what was going on and he’d lost one of the best parts of his week. “Having these video calls let him see and talk to his friends every week. They had so much fun doing so, it was amazing. It really helped us to get through lockdown.” Palace for Life Foundation work with 13,000 young people every year, striving to create safer communities, healthier lives and brighter futures. To find out more about the Foundation, please click here. 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