KitAid Monthly Update – March 2025

Hi all,

February has been another busy month for KitAid with kit deliveries, collections and event planning.  Here are the latest totals

Total items donated in February 2025  –  5,188
Total items donated in 2025  –  10,718
Total items donated since 1998 –  1,135,697

KitAid USA

KitAid USA is now up and running and their first kit donations have been made. A very big thanks to Ben Wildman and Kyle Abts who have arranged things with some shared support using our model.

On 26 March I will be visiting Ben, Kyle and the team in Charlotte, North Carolina, to officially launch the charity. It will be a partnership with two other charities, Sports Friends and MIA, who have agreed to provide storage and volunteers. Please look out for updates on our social media sites and a further report will follow next month.

St Luke’s, Everton

Some of you will be aware that we hold boxing up sessions at St Luke’s Church Hall in Liverpool. St Luke’s is an iconic landmark as it is built into the corner of Goodison Park stadium, the current home of Everton FC. Our very good friends, the Everton Heritage Society also host an exhibition upstairs and every match day they collect kit for us.

Richie Gillham is our lead KitAid co-ordinator in Liverpool and he is also one of the main committee members for the EHS. Sadly St Luke’s is struggling and desperately needs a new boiler and remedial work in the main hall, which we use for boxing up.  An appeal has been set up to raise £25,000 to meet the repair costs and so far £5,710 has been raised.

If you are able to support the appeal it would help them and also help KitAid secure the use of the hall, please see https://gofund.me/43c64e8a

Zanil Jussab, Bill Antonio

When KitAid FC was formed in Mulanje, Malawi in 2019 by a group of boys asking for a kit, little did we know that it would lead on to a career in football for one of the boys. Zanil was selected to play for the Malawi U16 national team and he played in a tournament in Lesotho. He is now in the Malawi U20 team and plays in the reserves for the top team, Nyasa Big Bullets, in the Malawi Super League. His younger brother plays for KitAid FC U16’s.

Bill Antonio is from Harare, Zimbabwe, and we have a lovely picture of him as a teenager wearing a Watford FC training top.

Bill Antonio

Bill now plays in the Belgian Premier League for KV Mechelen. Last year he suffered from a torn ACL and after breaking into the first team and scoring he missed the rest of the season and most of this. Thankfully he is now fully recovered and is playing in the first team once again.

Bill Antonio now – at KV Mechelen

These are just a couple of examples of the talent that exists in the projects we support and how the kit can enable greater opportunities.

“It’s more than just a shirt……..”

We recently gave kit to an Orthodontist Nurse from Watford Hospital as she was heading out to Mozambique with a group of dentists. While she was there they treated over 600 people and extracted 1200 teeth from people who were in chronic pain. They could not believe that they could eat pain free within a day.

We also give kit to a nurse who travels to Ethiopia with the charity Clubfoot International, who work with children to reverse the terrible impact of being born with clubfoot.

We are fortunate to meet such inspirational people and to play a small part in bringing smiles following treatment.

Positive footnote!

I always like to end on a positive  note and here are a couple of recent comments we received.

“It still amazes me that in this day and age there are people who really care”

“Your generosity in supplying high quality football kits has been instrumental in allowing me to give back to communities through sports. Thanks to you, I have been able to touch lives, create opportunities, and make a lasting impact. I truly appreciate everything you do.”

“The kit you give me is changing lives. It’s giving me a purpose of life by donating.”

Thanks everyone for your support of KitAid, together we are making a difference.

Have a good month and to those who are coming to the boxing up session in Hatfield tomorrow morning, see you there.

Derrick