KitAid Monthly Update – January 23

January has been another really busy month with a staggering amount of kit coming our way, which is exactly what we like as we head for the millionth item.  Here are the monthly figures

 

10,710 items of kit sent out in January 2023

944,607 items of kit donated since 1998

55,393 items still to donate to reach 1 Million.

 

Here are the highlights for January

 

Welcome/ Kilimanjaro climb

A very warm welcome to Ian and Keith, our newest Regional Co-ordinators for Royston and Great Missenden.

Both Ian and Keith completed the incredibly daunting task of making it to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro after months of training and some pretty scary experiences.  I met them both late last year to hand over kit to take out for schools, orphanages and teams in Moshi, Tanzania. They did so before their climb and took some wonderful photos, which have been really well received on our sites. Articles are also going to appear in the Watford FC matchday programme, the Watford Observer and a supporter magazine.

Well done both and we are delighted to have converted you to KitAid supporters!

 

25th Anniversary Celebration

Over recent weeks work has started on finding a suitable venue for our big celebration later this year.  Thanks to Barry F for helping me either look at or to review a number of different options. We have chosen our preferred venue, which we think you will all like, but need to hold back on an official announcement as it is dependent on us receiving sponsorship. Please keep Friday 8 September free in your diary and, once we have agreed sponsorship, we can announce the venue.

 

25for25 Fund Raiser

You may remember I mentioned this idea a few months ago and we are looking for as many supporters as possible to take part in this challenge. The challenge is of your choice, but it simply has to involve completing 25 of something and getting sponsorship, or just making  a donation.

A few examples –  completing 25 lengths of your swimming pool, running 25 miles over 25 days, abstaining from alcohol/chocolate for 25 days….. You can decide on the challenge and we have created a special “25for25” Just Giving page which you can link up to.

You will receive a special certificate, and we can feature your challenge on the website/social media sites if you wish.

Matt Tutton is looking to launch the challenge by running around the pitch at Hitchin Town 25 times before a game. Lets hope he finishes before 3pm!

Please support this as not only do we need the funds but it could be a great PR opportunity. Please let me know if you would like to take up a”25for25” challenge.

 

San Marino FA

I had a Teams call with the above, after quite a few emails which seemed to get lost in translation, but we are finally making headway!

You may be aware that San Marino is one of the smallest footballing nations, with only three full time professionals, and not surprisingly, they are also one of the least successful. I may be wrong but I am not sure if they have ever won a game? However, their supporters are wonderful and they have collected shirts which they want to donate to KitAid. San Marino FA also want to donate a full National team kit.

We are discussing the best way of getting the kit to us and once it is received we will arrange to ship it out to Malawi and form a new team, which will be called San Marino Malawi FC!!

 

Netball kits

We are conscious that most of the girls who play netball in Malawi do not have proper kits and mostly play in t-shirts and shorts. We have built a really good relationship with Hertfordshire Netball and with Sally Whittle who also sits within England Netball. Last Saturday we attended the East of England Schools Netball tournament and collected a number of kits and training wear. This coming weekend we will also attend the Hertfordshire League meeting which is run over two days.

Thanks to Mark S who joined me at a very cold Welwyn Garden City outside netball arena and to those who will also do the same this coming weekend.  The girls will really appreciate our efforts and it is only fair that they should wear proper kit as they are competing against other teams who are properly dressed.

 

Thank You certificates/Annual Review 22/23

All Regional Co-ordinators should have received a package of certificates, either by post or in person.  If you haven’t, please let me know and I will get some to you.

I will soon start work writing the new Annual Review and if you have any ideas or thoughts on what you would like to see included, please email me. It is a labour of love and it does take quite a few drafts to get it to print, so please bear with me and keep using the current AR until it is ready.

 

KitAid Calendar 2023

Hallelujah, they eventually arrived!!

This was a surprise as we did think the company had gone out of business and those who ordered early would be let down.  Thankfully they arrived a couple of weeks ago, although it remains to be seen if we will receive our share of the sales. As we acted quickly and advised people not to order we have lost out on a useful fundraising opportunity, but at least they arrived before 2024!

 

The journey of a shirt

We often discuss the journey an individual shirt or kit makes before it arrives at its destination.  This morning I handed over some kit to a guy from Ghana who was determined to support his project and his community. I wrongly assumed he was collecting the kit by car and he was coming from Hounslow, near Heathrow airport, so not really that far.  He caught a bus, then a train into central London, the tube to Euston, an overground train to Berkhamsted, and a taxi to the containers. Just the taxi fare to and from Berkhamsted cost him £22. He left with a suitcase jammed full of wonderful Brighton, Barnsley and Peterborough kit and he was overjoyed. He is flying out to Ghana on Saturday, will hand out the kit next week and return the following Saturday.

This is what makes all of your support and hard work so worthwhile. He was so thankful and happy and this will be replicated many times over when the kit is handed out next week.

 

Best wishes and thanks

Derrick

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KitAid Monthly Update – December 2022 – Happy New Year

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends, and wishing you all a happy, healthy and fulfilling 2023.

2023 is of course a big year for KitAd as we celebrate our 25th Anniversary and look forward to reaching 1 Million items of donated kit.

Here are the end of year totals for 2022

 

Total items sent in 2022  –                                  114,145

Total items donated since 1998  –                      933,897

Remaining number until we reach 1 Million  –  66,103

 

Hatfield Boxing up – 14 January

Thanks to all of those who replied to say they could or couldn’t attend this session.  As we were short of helpers I am extremely grateful to Ed Venner who asked his many contacts at Harpenden Colts if they could volunteer, and as a result, we now have enough people and also eight new helpers.  We look forward to the first session of 2023 and to welcoming Ed and his team to the Hatfield group.

 

Thank You certificates 2023

All of the photos and updated wording has been sent off to our designer Carole.  As she is currently in New Zealand visiting her family this may slow things down a bit, but she has very kindly offered to log on, carry out the design changes and place the order with the printer from NZ. In the meantime, if you could carry on using the 2022 certificates, I will post off the new ones, along with a jpeg image, as soon as they are available.

 

25th Anniversary polo shirts and badges

We have a limited number of polo shirts in sizes S,M,L and XL available on a first come basis and lovely shiny silver badges of the new logo. If you are interested in either please let me know.

 

2023 KitAid Calendar

I am very sorry to say we have been let down badly by ASK Calendars of Bury St Edmunds.  They clearly have production problems and are not answering any chase up emails, voice messages or calls.  I have reported the issue to Suffolk Trading Standards and I need to follow up with a further letter next week. This is incredibly annoying as we used the same company a couple of years ago and the service was good.

If you have ordered and paid for a calendar could you please let me know, so I can report this to the Trading Standards office.

 

Ukraine Support

During 2022 we were able to donate a number of cold weather kit items to different charities who were making onward deliveries to either Poland or Ukraine. Only a couple of weeks ago I met Katya, a Ukrainian refugee staying in Hemel Hempstead with our former Trustee, Julia. Katya arranged for a car load of mainly brand new thick winter coats to be delivered to Dnipro and yesterday the pictures came through of different people receiving and wearing the coats. We hope to keep donating items for as long as they are needed.

 

England National Schools Netball Championship

This prestigious tournament will take place on 28 January at Stanborough School in Welwyn Garden City.  All competing schools have been asked to bring unwanted kits along on the day and we will then collect them to send on to Malawi, where FOMO will distribute them to teams in the recently created KitAid/FOMO Netball league in the Mulanje District.

We may need some help collecting the kit on the 28th, so please let me know if you are able to help.

 

Hopes for 2023

As it is New Years Eve and a good time to look ahead I thought I would capture some of my hopes for KitAid in 2023.  Perhaps this time next year I can look back to see if we have achieved them!

  • To reach 1 Million items of donated kit in time for our 25th Anniversary in July.
  • To celebrate our 25th Anniversary with a party with all of our supporters and partner charities.
  • For KitAid to win an award and recognition for everyone’s hard work over many years.
  • To agree a sustainable operating model to allow KitAid to continue delivering beyond the 25th Anniversary.

 

Positive Message

Following a recent kit donation I received the following message from the charity Gravity Solutions, which I think captures the spirit of KitAid and why we all give our time

“You are not only giving kits, you are giving hope, making a difference and motivating the next generation. We love and cherish what you do”

Anthony Iwere

Gravity Solutions Charity

 

I think this is a lovely way to end this news update and to thank you all for your wonderful support in 2022.  Here’s to an equally successful 2023.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

Derrick

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Happy Christmas from KitAid

Thank you for your support in 2022.

Final figures are still to come, but so far in 2022 we have donated a massive 111,695 items of kit and 932,647 items since 1998

We look forward to reaching 1 Million items next year, in our 25th Anniversary year.

Happy Christmas from KitAid

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KitAid Monthly Update – November 2022

November was another really busy month with kit either leaving or arriving at the containers most days.  Here are the monthly totals

 

Total items sent in November  –  13,850

Total items sent so far in 2022 –  106,130

Total items sent since 1998      –  927,082

 

Countries supported – Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Ukraine, Colombia, DR Congo, Tanzania, The Philippines, Libya.

Even though I say it myself, I do think this is quite impressive for a volunteer-run charity, with a minimal budget and little recognition, to reach so many different countries. We are also edging ever closer to the milestone figure of 1 Million items of donated kit. My guess is that we will reach this by next July.

 

25th Anniversary 2023 calendars

Hopefully you will have seen the email I sent out last week with the link to order your copy. It is a really nice calendar with pictures representing our work across the globe. If you are still to order or have lost the email, here is the link to Ask Calendars site  https://www.askonline.shop/collections/kitaid

Please support this fundraiser if you can as we do need to sell as many calendars as we can to help meet our running costs.

 

England Netball

I have attended a couple of meetings with England Netball in November to discuss running a netball kit collection across Hertfordshire. This has now been agreed and plans are in place for one collection to be held at the National Schools Netball Tournament on 28 January, where schools from across the whole of the UK will compete at Stanborough School in Welwyn Garden City.

A second collection will be held with all Hertfordshire based Netball Clubs in early February.

This is a great opportunity and hopefully a lot of kit will be collected to support the new Netball League in Mulanje, Malawi.

Interestingly we also received a great donation of kit from the England National Badminton centre and it is lovely kit which can also be used for netball.

 

KitAid Supporters Cup

Due to a 92nd minute equaliser by Aylesbury Vale Dynamoes, against Leverstock Green FC, the inaugural KitAid Supporters Cup could not be presented to either team. It finished 3-3.

I don’t think I have ever been so frustrated by an injury time goal! However, a few of the KitAid team had an enjoyable afternoon at the game and as we also sponsored the game, we had the pleasure of joining the club officials in the boardroom at half time as well as choosing the Man of the Match.

We will look to carry the trophy over to the return match in January.

 

Everton FC 

At the boxing up session in October we handed over some Everton FC kit to a volunteer who was about to go out to Ghana to work at a school. He sent photos back of the kit being used and Richie, the Regional Co-ordinator, submitted a story to the Everton press office.

They then released the story across their official social media sites and this really showed the power of a good photo and story.

There were thousands of views and the story was also covered by the Liverpool Echo and the FC Business magazine.

This is why photos are so important for KitAid as well as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

 

Do Not Scratch Your Eyes podcast

This podcast is run by Watford FC supporters and it is becoming one of the main voices for Hornet fans.

I was given 30 minutes to tell the KitAid story a few months ago and since then, the guys who run the site have been very supportive of our work. Last week they announced they are moving on to a bigger platform, which hosts some of the really big sites and is linked to Talk Sport. They will also be releasing merchandise and half of the proceeds will be donated to KitAid.

 

Couriers

We are looking for another courier company as back up, as the companies we currently use are struggling with driver shortages. If you know of a reliable and good value company who cover the UK for collections and deliveries, could you please let me know.

 

25th Anniversary Celebration

We have started work on planning for the big 25th Anniversary/1 Million donated items event for 2023.

We are still waiting to hear if Affinity Water can help with sponsorship and this is critical in terms of the type of event we hold. Depending on sponsorship, it will either be a hotel based buffet event, similar to the 20th Anniversary, or a garden party/club house event. As it is such a significant milestone we would prefer to make it a hotel type event.

If you have any suggestions on sponsorship, venue, entertainment, auction items we would love to hear from you.

 

25th Anniversary merchandise

We have ordered some polo shirts with the new special logo and these will be available for £15, including p&p.

There will also be special badges, available for £5.

More information will follow with photos in the next monthly update, but if you would like to place an order in advance please reply stating the required size.

 

 

Well I think that is everything for November and I hope you find this update interesting and of use.

Many thanks for your support, which is what makes KitAid exist.

Very best wishes

Derrick

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KitAid Monthly Update – October 2022

Most months are busy for KitAid but October has been off the scale in terms of the amount of kit donated and received. Here are the latest totals

Total amount of kit donated in October         20,825 items

Total amount of kit donated in 2022               92,280 items

Total amount of kit donated since 1998         913,232 items

We also donated kit to projects in Colombia and Ecuador for the first time.

As you will see, this means that we are now in the final straight to reach our dream milestone of donating 1 Million items of kit. We should definitely get there next year in our 25th Anniversary year.

 

Boxing Up – Hatfield and Liverpool

After a break of six months in Hatfield and three years in Liverpool, we have held two sessions in successive weekends and they were both wonderful.

The first one at Hatfield went like clockwork and it is hard to believe we were ever away. It was also really lovely to meet some of the Regional Coordinators who came for the first time, Antonia and Izzy from Bristol and Chris from Carterton. We would love to see more of you at each session so please do consider a visit if you can as you will get to meet the team and see how your donations make a difference.

The session at Liverpool was also great and a big thank you to Richie and Paul from the Everton Heritage Society, the volunteers from Everton in the Community and to Trustee Janet. We also welcomed RC Lindsay from Durham for her first visit, who set off at 5-00am to get to Liverpool on time, and she brought some work colleagues from Value-Match to help boost the numbers.

It is great to be able to hold boxing up sessions again and thank you to everyone who helped. There should be another session in December at Hatfield and probably Spring time in Liverpool.

 

KitAid Supporters Cup – 12th November, 3-00pm Leverstock Green FC

This is a new event and a trial to see how it works out.  If it is a success we can expand things next year to include more KitAid supporting Clubs.

The match will be between Leverstock Green FC and Aylesbury Vale Dynamoes FC, who both play in the Spartan South Midlands League, which is Step 5 of Non League Football. Both Clubs have been supportive of KitAid and the AVD manager is a friend from my time at the WFC Community Trust. He suggested making the game into a KitAid event and both Clubs have agreed. We have bought a lovely Cup to present to the winners on 12 November.

If you are within travelling distance we would love to see you there. Leverstock Green is just outside Hemel Hempstead and very close to the M1, Junction 8.  It is a lovely Club with a Clubhouse and free parking. Entry is £8 but less for anyone of a certain age and juniors.

 

25th Anniversary

Following on from the email and your replies we have formed a small committee to investigate some potential events.

We have narrowed things down to three main events/activities.

25th Anniversary Celebration – Listening to your feedback we have decided against a formal black tie dinner due to the cost of living situation, but instead, are looking at a less formal gathering along the lines of our last event in 2018.  This will be dependent on us getting sponsorship and we are currently waiting to hear from Affinity Water, who have agreed to contact some potential supporters.

25 for 25 – This received positive feedback and it is something that can run throughout the whole year. It will be a sponsored event where supporters can choose from a number of challenges, all based around the 25 theme. So for example, swim 25 lengths, stop drinking alcohol for 25 days, walk 25 miles or simply donate £25. It is unlimited really and people can choose their own 25 themed activity.

2023 Calendar – We wanted to include this as a calendar is on display throughout the whole year. We are planning to use the same company as last time, so they only print to order and there is no risk of us being left with unsold calendars.  If things go to plan we should be able to start selling them in November and details will follow.

There will also be special 25th Anniversary and badges and polo shirts for sale.

 

San Marino FA

Just one of the many great things about KitAid is the strange contacts and offers of support we receive!

I received an email from someone at the San Marino FA asking if they could support our work. They have a number of shirts donated by their fans which they want to pass on to us and then to create a partnership. You may be aware that San Marino hardly ever win a game and I think they are close to the bottom of the FIFA World Rankings. This in itself appealed to me, to think that despite their lack of success they want to help develop football in Africa.

 

FOMO/KitAid League – Mulanje District – Malawi

As you know we have a very close partnership with FOMO Malawi and the KitAid FC U14/U17 teams.

Mary Woodworth who is the driving force behind all of the FOMO sporting events has decided to set up her own district league for football and netball. It will involve 80 teams across all districts and circa 1,200 children. This is something the Malawi FA should really be doing but Mary has taken it on as sadly they are not proactive.

KitAid will be supplying all of the children with kits and we are also looking to make a donation towards the £3,000 running costs. If anyone knows of a grant making body who can also contribute towards this great project please let me know.

 

Barry Lenton

Many of you will be aware of or know Barry, the KitAid super collector from Crosby! He is also the club historian for AFC Marine an an author.  He also taught Jamie Carragher Geography!!

He has now collected over 21,500 items of kit for us and I was finally able to catch up with him and present a trophy in recognition of this amazing achievement. Barry has also kept a spreadsheet which details every item and from which club the donation was made.

Many thanks Barry – you are a superstar.

 

Well I think that is everything on my October list, apart from to thank all of you for your ongoing support. Many thanks to all of the Regional Co-ordinators who do such a fantastic job in the background collecting and storing kit for us. Also to those who are able to deliver the kit to either Hatfield or Hemel Hempstead, saving us a £150 courier collection fee.

 

Have a good November and do look out for the pictures and updates on @kitaid Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

 

Many thanks

Derrick

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KitAid Monthly Update – August 2022

August was a really busy month at the containers, and we are now back to two of them again, which saves us £162 per month.  Here are the latest despatch figues.

11,690 items of kit donated in August

68.830 items of kit donated in 2022

889,782 items of kit donated since 1998

We are getting close to the final 100k and still on track to reach 1 Million donated items in 2023.

 

Congratulations

to Trustee Thomas (Enright) and his partner Debbie, who tied the knot in Mbale, Uganda.  Thimas has a long standing relationship with both Debbie and Uganda so it was fitting they celebrated their wedding there. On their honeymoon they handed out kit and also visited the Bulindi Chimpanzee project which we support with kit and sponsorship of their farmers football tournament. In lieu of a wedding present the other trustees donated £100 for  them to use towards a project and they chose to support the Mbale Youth Football project with the funds.

Many congratulations to you both and very best wishes for a long and happy future together.

 

25th Anniversary

Many of you will have received a special email I sent out earlier this week outlining some ideas and asking for your feedback for our big Anniversary year in 2023.

Thanks to those of you who have responded, and if you haven’t yet managed to do so, it would be great if you can. There have been some interesting responses and some themes are developing. I am really keen that everyone can take part in different events throughout the year and we use this as an opportunity to let more people know about KitAid and our successes.

 

Do Not Scratch Your Eyes podcast

I was interviewed by the guys from the DNSYE podcast and they ended up dedicating a whole episode to KitAid, which was a pleasant surprise. It is still available to download either directly or from Apple etc.

It has generated some interest and new support for KitAid as well as some lovely feedback.

 

Afi – Golf 

If you remember from the last monthly update we were asked to help enter junior golfer, Afi, from Ghana into some tournaments across Hertfordshire, after she missed out on the opportunity to play in the World Junior Championship in Scotland.

Luck clearly does not follow Afi, as after entering her into four competitions, at some prestigious golf clubs, she was unable to travel to England due to accommodation issues and Covid.

This is such a shame as she has missed out once again, but hopefully something can be arranged for next year. A big thank you to Ross from Five Star Trophies and to Jeremy for their help and advice.

 

FOMO/KitAid Bonanza

We sponsored the big Bonanza football and netball week and also the medals which were given to all of the winners.

It was great that Regional Co-ordinator, Ben (Wildman) from Kent was able to attend in person as the guest of honour, as he was working in Malawi for his charity in early August.

Ben presented prizes and took some great photos which were posted online at the time. I met Ben this morning when he dropped off some kit and he was very impressed with the whole event. He was also given a tour of the FOMO school, new gym and saw at first hand the wonderful work carried out by FOMO.

 

Giving and Receiving

We tend to focus more on kits being received but I received an email from one of the charities we give to, which made me think.

Ernest is a soldier in the British army, in the Household Cavalry, and he sends kit to Ghana where his parents are from. He sent an email after collecting the recent donation of kit to say that KitAid was a lifeline to his work, as previously he had visited car boot sales and charity shops, to buy shirts. Along with the shipping costs he was finding this harder to do and couldn’t believe how happy he was to find KitAid.

Ben also visited a sports shop in Blantyre, Malawi, and was shocked to find that a pair of shin pads would cost the equivalent of a week’s wages for the people he was coaching.

“It’s more than just  a shirt………”

 

Just Giving

We recently received a very generous donation of £1,000 plus Gift Aid in memory of a person who sadly died playing football in Manchester. A tournament in his memory was arranged by his friends. As Gift Aid does not supply us with any details of individual donors we have no way of thanking the family and friends of Frazer Gowans. We did post a thank you online and this newsletter also appears on our website. Hopefully they will get to see it along with our appreciation.

 

Boxing Up

It seems an age since we were all together and properly sorting kit, but I am hoping to go back to boxing up sessions in Hatfield and Liverpool next month.  The storeroom at Hatfield is about one third full and St Luke’s has more, so once I am back from holiday I will look at some dates and send out the invites.

As ever, many thanks to everyone for your support and if you are still to reply to the 25th Anniversary questions, please do.

 

Have a good month ahead

Derrick

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KitAid – Do Not Scratch Your Eyes podcast interview

Many thanks to the guys from the Watford fan podcast, DNSYE, for allowing me to spend 40 plus minutes sharing the history of KitAid. It is great to be given so much airtime as most radio interviews tend to be no longer than 10 to 15 minutes.

We covered a lot and the feedback has been great, including a nice tweet from Luther Blissett.

We hope you enjoy listening.

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KitAid Update – June/July 2022

June and July have both been extremely busy for KitAid, with a lot of kit coming in and going out.  Here are the totals for each month.

 

June  –                                          6,020 items donated

July  –                                          12,250 items donated

Total donated so far in 2022  –   57,140

Total donated since 1998  –        878,092

 

We are still on track to reach the 1 Million total in late 2023, our 25th Anniversary year.

 

Sean McGuigan

On behalf of the Trustees I would like to thank Sean for his many years of service as a Trustee and Treasurer. He also manages our Charity Commission returns and has done a fantastic job ensuring that they are always submitted on time.

Sean has decided to take a break after much soul searching and has stepped down as a Trustee. He has kindly agreed to continue as Treasurer until the end of the year, to allow a handover to take place.

Mark Smith has kindly offered to take on the Treasurer role and Sean will be offering guidance over the coming months.

Sean will still continue as a volunteer so fear not, his eclectic mega mixes will still be there at future Hatfield boxing up sessions!

Thanks Sean, it has been great working with you all these years.

 

Ballysillan Football Camp, Belfast

After a two year break due to Covid the Football Camp resumed a couple of weeks ago and Steve Andersen and myself attended on the final day.

It was lovely to see the boys and girls enjoying themselves and the team from BYFC did a fantastic job. In fact, football is almost an aside as it gives them the opportunity to mentor the kids and to get to know new ones. They run a brilliant Youth Centre with activities and support throughout the year and this often continues in later life, as Peter and his team act as surrogate parents for many of the kids.

This year marked the 15th Anniversary of our support for the project and we presented a special glass “friendship” trophy, which was kindly donated by 5 Star Trophies of Hemel Hempstead.

 

Fafali Golf

This is slightly off topic but a fascinating story!

Fafali, who we support with football projects in Accra, Ghana, have been given access to one of the main golf courses for the kids they support. It turned out that one of the girls, Afi, proved to be incredibly talented, and she recently won the Ghana Junior Championship. As a result she was eligible to play in the World Junior event but sadly her visa didn’t arrive in time and so she lost the opportunity to play and visit Scotland.

Her Aunt is Rhoda, who lives in Watford, who we know well as she is the person who collects donated kit to send to Fafali. Afi is now coming over to stay in Watford and we have been asked to help enter her into Junior tournaments across Hertfordshire in August and September. I have agreed to help with the admin for the entries. Thanks to Jez and Ross who are both keen golfers, for helping me with questions so far.

We are looking to enter Afi into as many competitions as possible and if there are any female readers, due to Safeguarding rules, we could really do with some help in driving Afi to and from events. If you are able to help please let me know.

Who knows, we could have a future KitAid Golf Champion as an Ambassador!

 

Everton FC

Thanks to Richie (Gillham), one of our Liverpool RC’s, Fanatics, the company who manage the retail side of things for a number of clubs, offered to give a 10% discount off a new shirt if supporters donated an old shirt. Richie has been suggesting this to Fanatics and Everton FC for some time and his perseverance paid off.

Fanatics are also going to run a similar campaign at another PL Club and it is great to have them on board.

 

Club support

Thanks to the efforts of various RC’s we have received donations from new Clubs in the last couple of months, namely Morecambe FC (thanks Barrie), Lincoln City (thanks Thomas) as well as some big donations from Arsenal, Man Utd and Liverpool. We also had a very big donation from Harpenden Colts which filled 8 laundry bags, thanks to Ed and Lindsey Venner.

 

Ricky Road Run/Finances

Thanks to the (virtual) Ricky Road Run we received a donation of £1,700. We currently have a clear balance of just over £10,000, which may seem a lot, but every month we have to spend £486 for container hire and £125 for every courier collection. We can spend around £800 a month which will erode the £10k if no further donations are received.  We have also sponsored 3 events so far this year.

If you happen to know any National Lottery winners or some grant making organisations or even anyone who is looking to raise funds for a charity, please ask them to consider KitAid. As next year is our 25th Anniversary I would like to hold a themed 25 fundraising event where we ask people to raise or donate £25. If you have any ideas please let me know.

 

Diamonds in the Community/Scotland

We have a long standing relationship with Dougie in Airdrie and along with Gordon in Stenhousemuir, they both act as the contact point for the whole of Scotland.  This is a big task and quite incredible that a whole country can be covered by just two people.

Diamonds in the Community is a great charity and they support their community in many different ways.  They also act as the main storage hub for kit donations and recently a lorry load of kit was delivered by one of their partners, free of charge, from Airdrie to the FOMO warehouse in Preston, for later delivery to Malawi. Thank You to Dougie and Gordon.

 

Ghana Trip

One of the charities we support in Ghana is organising a holiday with a difference, where people can deliver our kit to projects but also enjoy a holiday at the same time. KitAid cannot endorse the trip but if anyone is interested in attending for a week in October, I can share the details, It costs circa £1,500 for the week and you have to pay for your flights to/from Ghana.

Well I think that is everything apart from thanking you all for your support and hard work behind the scenes.  As you can see from the monthly totals, none of the above would be possible if it wasn’t for the work you all do. Many thanks.

Enjoy the rest of the Summer and the new season!

 

Derrick

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KitAid clip on Premier League Today TV

The following film clip shows the story of a shirt from a boxing up session in Hatfield to Accra, Ghana.

A lovely article which captures the KitAid story in less than 3 minutes.

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KitAid Monthly Update – May 2022

As the season has now come to an end I hope your teams met your hopes and if not, it is only a few weeks away, for you to dream again!

May has been a really good month in terms of raising our profile as well as sending out and receiving kit.  Here are the monthly totals and the main highlights.

 

Items sent out in May  –  8,365

Items sent out in 2022 –  38,870

Items sent out since 1998 – 859,822

 

Countries kit delivered to – Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Gambia, Zambia, Malawi

 

Premier League Today TV

After a couple of delays the film clip recorded at our Hatfield boxing up session in March was finally broadcast across Africa, South America, Asia and other non European continents.

It is a really professional recording and it tells the KitAid story from 1998 to the current day. There is some lovely film footage of the boxing up session as well as footage recorded by Fafali in Ghana.

It will soon be loaded on to our website as a News story and next month I will also share the link.

I have managed to build a good relationship with the researcher at PL TV and as he also works on other networks, he is going to try to get them interested in the KitAid story.

 

AMEX/Brighton & Hove Albion FC

We were contacted by the Agency who represent AMEX as they wanted to celebrate their 10 year anniversary of being the main shirt sponsor for Brighton. They ran a special “buy back” scheme for supporters which offered a free 2022/23 season shirt voucher in return for a donated Brighton shirt. They limited the offer to the first 250 supporters who dropped a shirt into the Club shop, and not surprisingly the vouchers were snapped up on the first day. There was a lot of publicity and it introduced us to a new club and group of supporters.

Thanks to Stuart, our local regional co-ordinator, for collecting all of the donated shirts.

 

90mins online

Some of you may already follow 90mins online and they have a very big social media presence with over 1 million followers. Throughout May they chose a different charity each week to promote and last week it was KitAid’s turn.

This certainly helps to raise our profile and other opportunities quite often follow.

 

Football Mum’s

This is an odd one!

I was contacted by an author who has written a “Top Tips for Football Mum’s” book as she wanted to include a section about recycling old kit. She has included KitAid in a few sections and I read the whole book to provide some feedback. It is a lovely guide to help Mum’s whose kids are starting off in junior football and it explains  things in a light hearted way. From what to wear on the touchline to the different footy terms.

Once it has been published I will share details for anyone interested.

 

Tring Tornadoes/Harpenden Colts

Both of these clubs are local to us and we have had a long standing relationship with them.

Once again they very kindly invited us to their end of season awards events where all players and parents were asked to bring along kit. A very big thank you to Stephen and Ed from each club and to Jo and Jeff who helped out at the Tring collection. We collected a lot of kit and were also able to share some of it for Ukrainian children who will soon be joining Tring Tornadoes.

If you are involved in a grassroots club and would like to host a similar collection please let us know.

 

Boots to Malawi

Mary from FOMO Malawi shared some photos of the boots the boys and men were playing in. They were torn and to be frank, dangerous, as they had no studs and were held together by tape. You may have seen the appeal for boots we promoted online and very quickly we collected 40 pairs of good quality boots.

Although we don’t usually send out kit ourselves, we made an exception and paid £230 for them to be air freighted to FOMO. They arrived this week and they will be handed out to the players this coming weekend.

 

Thanks to our Regional Co-ordinators

We are aware of how much work goes on in each region, especially at this time of the year, when many clubs change their kits. Although everything may not get mentioned in these updates, we are aware of how much you all do for us and we are extremely grateful. If you do have any particular donations or events you would like to be given a special mention, please let me know as I can always thank them on Twitter/FB or Instagram. A photo helps and if it includes children we do need permission to meet consent requirements.

Thanks everyone and best wishes

Derrick

On behalf of the KitAid Trustees

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