Hi all,
I hope you are settled into 2026 and looking forward to Spring.
January was a busy month and a good start to the New Year. Here are the latest totals.
Total items of kit donated in January – 9,538
Total items of kit donated since 1998 – 1.241,565
1.25M Milestone
As you can see from the above we are now very close to reaching our next big milestone.
It doesn’t seem all that long ago that we celebrated reaching 250,000 items and it was only just over two years ago when we reached 1M.
I would like to recognise the new milestone and I have ordered some banners and badges. I need your help as I would like to get photos from across the country with the banner to recognise all of the support we receive from Clubs.and County FA’s. If you can help in getting a photo at a Club who regularly donates kit we can post them online and thank them. We should also include all of the Ambassador Clubs.
When we reached 100K we persuaded Wembley Stadium to let us into the ground one evening and they displayed a message on the scoreboard.
If you would like a banner please let me know and if you have any other ideas on how we can celebrate the milestone please share. I am very keen to recognise this as I think it may be my last milestone in my current role with KitAid.
Thank You certificates
Hopefully everyone who needs Thank You certificates has either collected them in person or received some in the post. If you haven’t by any chance please let me know and I will get some to you. We have printed enough to see us through the year so please do give one to kit donors and to those who go the extra mile.
KitAid Sponsored Match – Leverstock Green v Harpenden Town, 21 February.
This will be our second sponsored match of the season and it will be a tough one for Ambassador Club, Leverstock Green. Hitchin Town are at the top of the table and Levy Green are currently in the drop zone, but with a game in hand.Unfortunately the fixture clashes with a Watford home game so I know some of you who attended the last game will be cheering on the latest manager at the Vicarage Road Circus!!! For those who are able to attend please do come along as with so many postponements in December/January the Club have taken a big financial hit while the operating bills have not gone away.
Last time we had around 10 KitAid supporters and we were looked after really well and got to choose our player of the match. It is a really friendly Club and the committee is really supportive of KitAid.
Tik Tok, WhatsApp, Smiley Awards
Ben has been really busy setting up new channels to share information and to spread the word for KitAid. The WhatsApp group is particularly useful as it includes very up to date photos/stories and general information It would be great to get everyone who uses WhatsApp signed up and the joining links are below
Thanks to everyone who has voted for KitAid in the Smiley Awards. We think voting may have closed but they may extend it into February. so I will attach a link below just in case you haven’t voted.
Open this link to join our WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Du6fCBINJzOFopcvYq9VRs
TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@kitaid2?_r=1&_t=ZN-93aI2P61RrS
Smiley Charity Film Awards:
https://smileycharityfilmawards.com/films/harry-mnisi-foundation-sports-day-december-2024
“It’s more than just a shirt……..”
One of the wonderful things about KitAid is meeting and following people who are inspirational in many ways. We have always been close to the charity Friends of Mulanje Orphans (FOMO) in Malawi and we have got to know some individuals from our visits in 2018/19. One such person is Steven M who at 12 became an orphan and was subsequently fed, clothed, educated and supported by FOMO. He went on to study journalism and is a really good singer, poet and performer.
I have followed his music output on Facebook and have always been impressed. Through KitAid I know another talented musician who is also a DJ with his own World Music radio programme. I asked him to listen to some of the music and he replied to say Steven is talented but needs some support. As a result we set up a group call and agreed a structured plan to help Steven, who’s performing name is JahSpeaks.
Tomson has arranged for all of the music to be registered on a platform which automatically links to Spotify, Amazon and all of the respected music channels. Ben has helped consolidate all of his social media channels and last week Tomson played a couple of his tracks on UK radio.
He has a new single and an album released next week and is being featured on national TV in Malawi.
If you use Spotify, listen to JahSpeaks and enjoy the rise of a little lost boy who has been supported by FOMO and provided with Liverpool FC shirts by KitAid!!!!
Positive End Quote
“Your support has enabled us to positively touch lives by giving hope and purpose to young people in and around the Accra (Teshie) community.
The availability of proper jerseys and equipment has greatly boosted confidence and strengthened our outreach efforts with schools and communities.
Danso – Ghana
January 2026
Thanks to everyone reading this update for making the above possible and for supporting KitAid.
Have a great February.
Derrick