At the October boxing up session we passed another major milestone as we reached the 300k items of kit sent out since 1998 and we currently sit on a grand total of 302,000.

I didn’t expect to reach that figure in 2015 and it really goes to show how much kit is coming to us as it was only a year ago we were celebrating the 250k milestone. We even made the local news!

It really is incredible to think that each and every single item has passed through one of our helpers hands and then found its way from Hatfield to Africa, South America, Asia or Eastern Europe at very little expense to KitAid. 

Enough smiles to light up the floodlights at Wembley Stadium at least 3 times over!  Well done and thank you to each and every one of you for making this happen.

Ben recently sent this email which although sad, highlights once again the power of giving something as simple as a football scarf or shirt to those who have very little

Finally, I have a picture of some of the aid you have given being distributed.  Some of the football scarves you donated were distributed along with more of our winter aid on Friday in the Dohuk area in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.  In Iraq there are currently more than 8 million people in desperate need of humanitarian assistance, and we are also sending to Syria as well now.

 This is a family of 13 people (mother, father, grandmother and ten children), but it wasn’t that size last year.  They all fled from Sinjar when IS came and started shooting people.  Thousands fled to the Sinjar mountains and in the chaos four of these children lost their father.  They don’t know what happened to him but assume that he was killed along with many others.  Once in the mountains, many people died of exposure and dehydration as they were trapped up there by IS waiting at the bottom.  The mother died, leaving four children aged between 4 – 15 years old with no one to care for them.  The mother and father in these pictures took in these four children to care for when they didn’t even have enough to feed or care for their own children or themselves. 

 When hundreds of thousands of people were displaced by IS last summer, people were reduced to living in all manner of awful situations because there was nowhere to shelter.  This family have moved into the only place available.  An animal shed.  You can see that there is no door on this building, just a tarpaulin.  Winter is arriving now in the high altitude area of Dohuk and they will soon have snow.  They also have a newborn baby, and this accommodation does not offer them the protection they need from the harsh winter to come.  The roof is not watertight and water leaks in when it rains.  They have no income as there is no work available for the displaced people as there are too many of them.  They are not cared for by any of the aid organisations. 

 One Christian women in the area has taken them under her wing and is giving them what she can, but she too was displaced last year and is struggling to get by.  Clearly  her love and compassion have touched this family deeply as they have named their newborn baby after her.  In any culture this is an honour, but for a Yazidi to name their child after a Christian it takes this to a new level as they are likely to face criticism from their Yazidi community as a result.  We have given them winter clothes, shoes and bedding.

 I have made a commitment for Samara’s Aid Appeal to provide food for this family every month as I have been moved by their seemingly hopeless situation, and the love they have shown these four children by taking them in when they don’t have enough for their own children.  There are many other families in situations like this, and I will be starting to raise support so that we can help feed more of them.  Please follow the link below to see a video of this family.

 https://www.dropbox.com/s/1bsismn041lz9hv/20151023_124834.mp4?dl=0

 Over the coming weeks, more will be distributed, but I wanted you to see this as soon as possible.

 Please feel free to share this with your supporters who have kindly donated the clothes you have sent to this appeal.  We will be sending more this winter.

Thanks again to everyone for your support, without which, stories such as this, wouldn’t be possible.

Many thanks to Janet for collecting all of the kit donated by fans at the recent kit amnesty. 

This campaign generated a lot of interest, including a mention on the main BBC Sport web site, and some great comments on twitter.

All of the shirts will be sorted and donated at the next boxing up session in Manchester, thus saving an unnecessary trip to Hatfield and a courier fee, as well as helping to improve our carbon footprint.

This was another successful event and once all of the proceeds have been collected KitAid will receive 5% of the total, which last year amounted to £1,600.

A big thank you to the Graduates from Affinity Water who organised the event and on a personal note, I am really pleased to see this event reaching its 32nd year as I was involved in the very first RRR all those years ago. 

It has now raised an incredible £350k for WaterAid and other charities since its inception

Our first ever boxing up session outside of Hatfield is now planned for Sat 28 November in Manchester.  We are really excited about this and thanks very much to Janet and Peter for making this happen. 

Peter, through his contacts at FC United of Manchester, has arranged for us to be given access to a large room in their brand new stadium at Broadhurst Park.  We are really pleased that we have finally made this happen as we have always thought it would be great to have another boxing up option which other Regional helpers can attend without having to drive all the way down to Hatfield. 

It is also daft that we often transport the kit down here when it can easily be sorted and handed over to charities in the region.  Next on the agenda is a Midlands boxing up for our friends in Birmingham, Leicester, Burton etc.

If you'd like to get involved please contact Derrick Williams at kitaid@affinitywater.co.uk