KitAid Monthly Update – May 2025

Hi all,

For those of you who missed the monthly update for March, my apologies. I was returning from Charlotte USA at the usual time of writing and then catching up on emails/meetings. Normal service is now resumed and here are the totals for each month.

Total items of kit donated in March  =  8,877
Total items of kit donated in April    =  8,235
Total items of donated so far in 2025  =  26,863
Total items of kit donated since 1998 =  1,152,809

KitAid USA launch

The launch took place on 28 March in Charlotte, North Carolina with a small gathering of partners and supporters. Earlier in the week meetings were held with the two partner organisations, Sports Friends and Missionary Athletic International, to secure storage and general support.
On a day to day basis KitAid USA will be run by Kyle Abts, Herschel Rothchild who are based in the USA with support from Ben Wildman. I will offer guidance support based on experience of running KitAid UK.
A large donation of basketball kit has already been received and the social media sites are all live, so KitAid USA is officially ready to roll.

Boxing Up – Saturday 14 June, Hatfield

Thanks to those who have replied to the invitation and we currently could do with a few more helpers if you are able to join us. We have five Charities attending and the storeroom is nearly full.
We seem to have lost some of our previous volunteers, for a variety of reasons, and a couple of weeks ago we issued a targeted appeal for new helpers.  If you do know of anyone who would like to join Team KitAid please encourage them to do so and let me know their contact details.

Green Football/Great Save Campaign

You may have seen some of the national publicity this campaign received and this year they focused on collecting football kits to save them from being sent to landfill.
We were selected by Watford FC and Wycombe Wanderers FC as their chosen charity to receive shirts donated by supporters. In total we received over 1,000 items of kit and each club gave us a lot of publicity prior to selected matches. I was also interviewed on the pitch at half time at both Vicarage Road and Adams Park.
A very big thank you to both Clubs, to their Community Trust/Foundation and to Dan Proberts, Amanda from “Kindness in Bucks” and to everyone who helped out at the collections.

“It’s more than just a shirt………..”

Our motto has different meanings and we regularly see examples of how the kit has helped in many different ways.
We recently donated 50 brand new sports bra’s to our good friends, FOMO Malawi, as Mary mentioned in passing that she had bought some to allow the players from FOMO Women FC to compete. Without a sports bra they cannot take part in senior league football, which is just another obstacle they are faced with.
Staying in Malawi, we recently heard that one of the former KitAid FC boys, is now playing professionally for Nyassa Big Bullets in the Malawi Super League. Zaneel Jussab also plays for the Malawi U20 team. His younger brother plays for KitAid FC and Zaneel still contacts Mary to ask her for boots as they are not provided by the Club!
We have also regularly supported projects in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and over recent years, the development of girls football. Tham Ndlovu recently informed us that two girls from a team we have supported, Lobengula City Queens, have been selected to play for the Zimbabwe U17 national team.

Although our support is not based on achieving sporting success, it is great to see people being given opportunities to develop and to give inspiration to others.

Positive End note

The following message was recently received from Olga Lee

“The support you give doesnt just improve young people’s wardrobes only, but instead you improve their mental and physical well being. You also give them the confidence to be a part of their community through being part of a team.”

Thanks everyone for your help and support and for keeping KitAid active.

Have a good May.

Derrick