The phrase “More than a club” is one that has been adopted by football teams around the world, but never has it been more relevant than this month at Celtic Park.

The Glasgow club marked the 100 year anniversary of the death of their founder, Brother Walfrid, on April 17th by hosting a charity lunch in his name for 400 members of the homeless community of Glasgow.

Celtic were founded in 1888 under the principles of maintaining the health and wellbeing of families in the unemployment line. And now, 127 years later, the Scottish Champions are giving back to the community to commemorate their founding father.

Celtic FC and Celtic FC Charity Foundation opened their doors to members of the Salvation Army, Glasgow City Mission and many other organisations as a nod to the work founder Brother Walfrid did during his life for the needy people of Glasgow.

On April 17, 1915, Brother Walfrid died at the age of 74. The club he had founded had already began to dominate the Scottish game – but it was the background to his story that draws significance and parallels to how things are now in the East End of Glasgow.

Chief Executive at Celtic, Peter Lawwell, said: “So many years after our foundation, Celtic continues to be very well aware of its continued social responsibility and the club does more charitable work now than ever before.

“We are proud that Brother Walfrid’s spirit remains strong at Celtic and through initiatives such as this we will continue to honour the ambitions of the club’s founders and make a positive difference to the lives of people in need.”

Celtic FC Foundation CEO Tony Hamilton said the lunch was the perfect way to celebrate the legacy of Brother Walfrid, but also acknowledged how important it is to Celtic as a club to continue their charitable work on a day-to-day basis, regardless of the significance of the date.

He said: “I think it’s important to us beyond it being Brother Walfrid’s anniversary. The football club is underpinned by a lot of great organisations.

“There are supporters associations across the world, there are supporter’s buses that have been running for a long time – I mean 60, 70 years; and there is an organisation called Celtic Grave Society. They mark the graves of the founding fathers and the first ever team that played in May 1888.

“So I think as a football club, anniversaries, dates and people are very important to us. Brother Walfrid is particularly important to us because he and some business men here in the East End of Glasgow gave us this football club.

“100 years ago he died, and had the need for charity not existed at that point, we wouldn’t be here today.”

The importance of the day was not understated by Hamilton, and he knows that there is a much bigger picture than the one seen in the Number 7 restaurant at Celtic Park.

“Brother Walfrid would be turning in his grave in Dumfries if he thought that this need still existed 127 years later. It has evolved and looks different now, but it still exists. There are still loads of people living in poverty and there aren’t a huge amount of opportunities for people. The more things change, the more they stay the same in many regards.”

He continued: “It’s not a problem that Celtic FC Foundation will solve in isolation. We are a small part of this. What we have here is a football club with executives who believe in what we are doing, and who back us at every turn. They never question us, they just back us in what we’re doing.

“But we need to be doing this in conjunction and collaboration with other agencies. We’ve got a limited reach. Where we’ve got an edge is that the Celtic brand is known world-wide. So we get doors open that other charities with a similar turnover would never get afforded.”

As well as the Brother Walfrid lunch on April 17, Celtic fans descended on Celtic Park on Wednesday April 15 to donate over £30,000 worth of food as part of a food-drive, prior to kick-off between Celtic and Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership.

Proceeds of the food-drive were donated to local Foodbanks and Tony Hamilton was taken aback by the generosity of the Celtic support.

He said: “I’m continually surprised by the way Celtic supporters react. It’s in our DNA, it’s how we are, it’s a big part of the football club.

“The Celtic story is special. Why we are here is in the front of everybody’s minds. These people that support this football club know why this club exists. The converse position to that is that it’s completely unacceptable that we have £30,000 worth of food lying outside our door in 2015.”