English Premier League club Everton set up appeal fund

English Premier League football club Everton have opened a relief fund to help victims of the tsunami that devastated parts of Thailand on Sunday, according to their website, evertonfc.com.

The Toffies said they felt they needed to take quick action to help as one of their main sponsors is Beer Thai 1991, the brewer of Chang Beer.

Beer Thai has a reputation in Asia for its humanitarian work and Everton officials said it was important to support their main partner during this difficult period.

The club has opened a designated bank account at Barclays Bank and Evertonians will be able to go to any branch, quoting sort code 20-10-84 and account no: 90344907 and pay into the fund by cash or cheque, though due to logistics debit and credit-card transactions will not be accepted.

Cheques, made payable to The Asian Disaster Fund, will also be accepted by post at Asian Disaster Fund, Goodison Park, Liverpool, L4 4EL. There will also be a collection prior to next Tuesday's home game with Portsmouth.

Chief executive Keith Wyness told evertonfc. com: "The reason we are doing this is because we are the only Premiership club with a sponsor in that part of the world.

"We have been in touch with Chang and they are working on the ground already and doing a lot of things to assist in that area. We want to work with them and do whatever we can to help."

Everton are also hoping that the rest of the Premiership will follow their lead and start raising funds for what is being called the biggest relief effort ever staged.

Keith continued: "We will be contacting the other Premiership clubs and if they feel it is appropriate to help us by donating to the fund we will give them a vehicle to donate to our fund because we have the people on the ground who can actually make a difference in the area.

"Fans from our club and others can assist by doing any of their own fundraising in order to help the victims in Thailand, which has the biggest death toll of Brits in all the affected areas."

Beer Thai adviser Thanit Thammasukati said that Everton had been in close contact with the company.

"Everton is a partner of Chang Beer and a lot of English people visit the South so they want to help,'' he said.

Source: The Nation, Bangkok