Bands for Brothers initiative teams up with Heart of the Game

Bands for Brothers was a charity venture started by Scott MacDonald, aimed at increasing awareness of mental health conversations among men.

As part of his initiative, he created and sells wristbands, with all proceeds going towards the Scottish Action for Mental Health (SAMH).

Now, he has teamed up with Kieren Mooney, who himself is hosting a charity football match in December for SAMH.

READ MORE: Lifelong Alloa fan hosting charity match for SAMH

Speaking to the Advertiser, Scott said: “I saw that Kieren was doing a football fundraiser for SAMH and that couldn’t have aligned any better in terms of my initiative.

“I reached out to Kieren initially to show support and we started chatting about collaborating in the future.

“The best way in which we thought about was that on the day of the game, we sell my wristbands.

PARTNERSHIP: Scott MacDonald has shown his support for Heart of the Game. (Image: Scott MacDonald) “All funds, through my initiative or through Kieren’s initiative from JustGiving, go to SAMH.”

As reported by the Advertiser previously, Kieren is hosting a charity match in memory of his mum Louise.

This is being held at Alloa Athletic’s ground on Clackmannan Road on Saturday, December 21, during the Wasps’ trip away to Cove Rangers.

READ MORE: Alloa Athletic women's team climb Ben Lomond for SAMH

Scott will be attending the game and selling his Bands for Brothers wristbands to help spark conversations surrounding mental health.

He continued: “I’ll be selling them at the game and each of the players will be wearing them as well.

“Mental health is absolutely massive, we’re doing our bit and we’re saying a lot of the right things.

“There is still work to do there and things like this help to start having those open and honest conversations.”

SUPPORT: The players involved in the charity match will wear the Bands for Brothers wristbands. (Image: Contributed) Kieren has already had a wealth of support shown towards his fundraiser, which was launched as part of his Heart of the Game charity.

The Alloa Athletic women’s team climbed Ben Lomond to raise money themselves for the charity.

He added: “I’m delighted to have Scott and Bands for Brothers on board with the Heart of the Game campaign.

“When Scott reached out, it was a no-brainer, he does amazing work for men’s mental health, he does it for SAMH and he does it in Alloa.

“For us at Heart of the Game and wanting to raise funds for mental health and wanting to bring the community of Alloa together, this made total sense.

“We’re incredibly grateful for his support and to sell the bands at the match, we’re excited to have the players wear the bands and to raise a little bit more awareness.

“To get Bands for Brothers and Heart of the Game up and running is truly amazing.”

Wristbands cost £5 and will be sold at the Indodrill on the day of the match.