Hi all,

I hope you are well and enjoying the heatwave.

July was a very successful and busy month, here are the latest totals:

Total items donated in July  –  17,044
Total items donated in 2024  –  55,967
Total items donated since 1998  –  1.083,415

As well as one of the biggest boxing up sessions ever, there were 19 individual charity visits to the containers in Hemel Hempstead with kit starting the journey to 16 different countries.

British Masters Golf –  The Belfry

Many thanks to everyone who has volunteered to help at this five day event.  Altogether we will have 21 volunteers on site to collect donated kit and to manage a special “chipping” competition for kit donors.  This is the first time we have attended an event over five days and it is testament to how KitAid has grown and to how we are recognised. It is also positive that we can operate in another sport and we now receive kit from multiple different sports, including cricket, hockey, athletics, bowls, netball.

Afi Amezado

Unfortunately Afi’s visa did not receive clearance in time which meant that she was unable to attend the World Junior Championship in Scotland as well as the Scottish Open.  The visa has now been approved and Fafali charity have gained sponsorship for her flights so she will be competing in some local junior tournaments in Hertfordshire. Thanks to Ian Dell for arranging for her to compete in his Captains Day event at Royston Golf Club.

Race Across the World

If you watched the latest BBC series you will recall Alfie Watts and his friend Ollie winning the race.  Alfie is from St Albans and he was a volunteer at the WFC Community Trust, as well as being good friends with one of our boxing up stalwarts.
He has just left for Malaysia with a lot of kit which he will donate to one of the places he visited on his RATW trip. He will also be holding an auction during the trip with the proceeds being shared between KitAid, Charity Boots and a local charity in Malaysia.

You can follow Alfie’s trip on his social media channels @_alfiewatts_

Ballysillan Belfast Football Camp

A small group of KitAid supporters visited the Football Camp and as ever, came away in awe of the incredible work carried out by the Ballysillan Youth For Christ team. Some of you will have heard Pete and Bean speaking at our Anniversary Celebration dinners, and they are both incredibly inspirational people.

We co-sponsored the event again this year and over 90 boys and girls had an incredible week. It is so much more than a football camp though as the coaches work with the kids as mentors and develop long standing relationships through the Bluehouses Centre. if you would like to visit next year please let me know.

Its more than just a shirt…… Another inspirational story

I was recently contacted by a teenager who wanted to collect kit for us as part of a charity drive. She explained that she has ADHD and was bullied at school so found activities such as this quite difficult.

She received some support and persevered by contacting all of the schools in her city.  She had attended some of the same schools but had left due to bullying and non attendance.

I was contacted by her Nan to say that she had collected lots of kit and this was a huge success for her personally as she had overcome some fears and had been motivated to concentrate on the task. Something she had previously struggled with due to her ADHD. She now wants to continue collecting kit.

It really is more than just a shirt, in so many different ways.

As I am writing this update Niel, one of our long standing volunteers, is driving down the M6/M1 with a van load of kit he has collected from Sale. Niel lives near Barnsley, he collected the van in Leeds, then drove to Sale to meet Regional Co-ordinator Peter M, who had kindly stored all of the boxes in his garage for a couple of months. They then loaded the van. I will meet Niel at the containers at 3pm, unload, and then he will head straight back to the M1 to return the van to Leeds.

This is why KitAid continues, thanks to the incredibly generous volunteers we have who go the extra mile to make a difference. Thank You to all of our volunteers.

Have a great August.

Derrick