Cup Semi-Final: Taking Big Hearts to Hampden

**Scroll down this page to read the latest updates with key-stats on the impact of the initiative**

Earlier this week Big Hearts Community Trust, the charity of Heart of Midlothian FC, launched an initiative to give those who wouldn’t normally get the chance, a brilliant opportunity to support Hearts in the Scottish Cup Semi-Final.

With hundreds of monetary and tickets donations received so far, Big Hearts would like to thank Jambos for their kindness and the outstanding support which will allow us to create families memories on Sunday as Hearts take on Rangers at Hampden Park.

We are working alongside Heart of Midlothian FC, The Foundation of Hearts, partner organisations and community groups to provide match tickets, and cover travel and food costs where appropriate to ensure there are no barriers to attending the game.

Please see below the many ways supporters can get involved if they wish to help.

Online donations:
– Donate to our fundraising page: Taking Big Hearts to Hampden
– Take part in our Big Hearts Day Strip Raffle

Hearts’ Ticket Office: 
– Hand your printed tickets to Club staff, by mentioning that they are for ‘Big Hearts’
– Make a donation via our contactless device on the counter (no registration needed)

The funds raised across this initiative will be used by Big Hearts to help individuals and families attend the semi-final game at Hampden on 21st April, and match up donated tickets with transport (eg. mini-bus for groups) and food vouchers depending on circumstances. Given the scale and incredible amounts raised so far Big Hearts will provide regular updates and do our absolute best to support as many families and groups as possible. Any excess funds will be used to help us deliver our charity’s objectives aimed at changing lives through football.

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Update 20/04 – Final numbers!

What a week! We’ve allocated the final match tickets and vouchers yesterday evening and can now share more about the amazing impact of this initiative. Watch our CEO reflects on this amazing week.

We have no words for the kindness, support and compassion on show in the last 5 days – you helped raise over £28,500! A huge thank you to anyone who contributed with monetary or tickets donations. It’s been incredible and we’re delighted to be in the position to let you know more about the positive difference you’ve helped us make.

750 people will be making their way to Hampden to see Hearts take on Rangers in the semi-final! 44% of them are young people from across the community. We can’t stress how thrilling it is for so many young Jambos to be able to cheer on their team in Glasgow this season, and for many, for the very first time!

When we launched this initiative, our priority was to create a great experience for all, by covering food & travel needs to remove barriers to a great day out. We can confirm that along with the 750 match tickets, we have distributed £6,600 worth of transport (buses/train/taxi) along with £5,000 in kiosk vouchers and a further £2,100 in Hearts’ scarves – accounting to a monetary value very close to £26,000.

In terms of the people supported, they come from various backgrounds:
– Adults & children across our programmes: Kinship care families, Football Memories, T.E.A.M, Welcome Through Football and The Changing Room.
– Groups supported by partner organisations, including: Space, Harmeny Education Trust, Working Rite, Passion 4 Fusion.
– Individuals on a one-to-one basis, including Jambos who contacted our charity for help.
– Pupils from 5 different high schools across Edinburgh, including Tynecastle High, Fairhill and Wester Hailes.

Jambos who haven’t attended a Hearts game in years, families with many children enjoying a great day out, new Scots in the stands at Scotland’s national stadium, young people dreaming of playing in maroon – Sunday will be an experience like no other.

To hear stories over the weekend, follow Big Hearts on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin.

As a charity based at Tynecastle Park, we embrace our unique position in the local community to create positive social change. We’re proud to be Hearts’ charity and to change lives through the power of football.

We would like to thank again anyone involved in Taking Big Hearts to Hampden: the Club, Foundation of Hearts, Ticket office, partner organisations, supporters’ clubs and all the Jambos who have demonstrated once again that we are more than football. Thank You!

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Update 18/04
Your donations keep on coming and we are so grateful for your continued kindness and support since Monday night. Over £27,000 raised in total by 1,200+ donors!

With less than 2 days before the semi-final, logistics become more and more challenging so from tonight (Thursday) 8PM GMT+1 we will stay away from any new monetary or ticket donations, as we can’t guarantee they will be used for the semi-final. This will allow our staff team to ensure already promised match tickets, along with food & train vouchers, are effectively distributed to groups and families ahead of the game.

This also means that after 8pm tonight, we might not be in the position to answer all emails and direct messages via social media.

The response to this initiative has been outstanding – our working week has been turned upside down – but we are so proud of your trust in our charity to support those who wouldn’t normally make it to Hampden on Sunday. Our priority is to use as much of the funds donated to support taking families to see Hearts in the semi-final. Only afterwards would any extra funds be used to help us deliver our charity’s objectives aimed at changing lives through football.

Those who have yet to collect their match tickets, train/vouchers etc. can do so tomorrow (Friday) between 10am and 4pm. Access to our Big Hearts office is from the Community gate opposite the turnstiles on Wheatfield Street, EH11 2NZ.

Thank you so much for your support, what a set of supporters we have!

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Update 17/04/24, 6pm

Over £24,000 raised in total, thanks to 1,200+ incredible donors – your kindness is outstanding!

Our staff had a very productive day with things really taking shape:

• 4 buses taking close to 250 people to Glasgow on Sunday. All with match tickets!
• A further 230 or so tickets awaiting collection or collected already.
• 500 vouchers sorted for the food kiosks at Hampden.
• 150 Hearts scarves purchased to be distributed from tomorrow.

What a support, thank you Jambos! We still have loads to do in the final days before the game, watch for more updates.

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Update 17/04/24, 11am

Incredible response to our initiative with over £20,000 in total raised in just over 36 hours. Nearly 1,000 donors contributed! Our whole staff team – who have normal work to carry on (our support groups are on all week!) – is supporting this.

Hundreds of tickets are ready to be issued (some already distributed) to individuals and community groups (and this keeps on growing) including young people from Welcome through football, families from our Kinship Care project and participants from our Football Memories groups. Partner charities such as Passion4fusion and The Welcoming are also involved. We will therefore have a host of new Scots getting to support the Jambos at Hampden for the very first time!

We’ve managed to secure some transport, including one 70 seat bus, but we do need more and would appreciate any offers of help.

We also hope to have food vouchers for the kiosks at Hampden for as many people as need them, and will provide vouchers to be used between Glasgow and Edinburgh as an alternative.

We stress that we will do our upmost to use every single pound donated to support taking families to see Hearts in the semi-final on Sunday. Thanks so much for your suppport!

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Big Hearts Community Trust is a registered charity SC037311