This season the Supporters' Trust have been delighted to launch a new partnership with Exeter Community Initiatives.
This friendship, which seeks to provide mutual support in the benefit of our club and our community, recently saw delegates from ECI visit St James Park to share the charity's history and mission, and explore ways of working through these challenging times and into the future.
Steven Chown, the CEO of ECI, is a long standing Exeter City supporter of 'about 50-years' and is absolutely thrilled that our organisations have been able to team up, given both his own personal history with the club but also the ethos and values that are shared by ECI and the Trust.
On the recent visit to St James Park to officially launch the partnership, Steven said: "I've followed the Trust for the last 20-years and was the 1000th member of then Trust. Officially, I've had a presentation on the pitch and so on a personal level I was delighted.
"Also, I think that the Trust has been absolutely brilliant for the city as it's reestablished the football club at the heart of the community. The thing about the Supporters' Trust and Exeter City Football Club at the moment is that they've reached out into the community and embraced it".
"This place feels a lot different now than it did 20-years-ago and I think that the Trust has actually transformed that because of its approach in trying to engage with the community and having that participation. I think that's a good fit with the way which ECI operates: It's part of the community and it's around people coming together"
Speaking of the launch of the partnership, Trust chairman Nick Hawker expressed the Trust's pleasure in connecting with ECI and the value that he hopes that this will bring to members of the Trust and the community.
"I think it's really important to engage with a charity partner that our members can also engage with. So, there are volunteer opportunities within ECI and lots of really good activities going on, so really have a look at their website and see if you can help them as well as the Trust."
To hear more from Steven and Nick about this new and exciting partnership, please be sure to check out the short video below.