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

Hi all,

The New Year has started off where the old one left and January has been another good month for KitAid. Here are the latest totals:

Total items donated in January/2025  =  5,530
Total items donated since 1998           =  1,130,509

Ricky Road Run

You may recall KitAid was chosen as one of the charities for the 40th Ricky Road Run which was held last October.

We had a wonderful surprise when an amazing donation of £4,080 was transferred to the KitAid bank account as our share of the proceeds from the event.  This is one of the biggest single donations we have ever received and it will pay for the container hire costs for the whole of 2025.

A massive thank you and congratulations to the team of graduates from Affinity Water who organised the event and to all of the race sponsors and runners.

Hertfordshire FA

Ben Wildman and myself attended an evening event for Charter Standard Clubs across the County. We were given a 15 minute slot at the meeting to present on KitAid. Interestingly more than half of the Clubs present had previously donated to KitAid but it was a really useful opportunity to remind people of our work.

From the meeting we have started discussions with Garston Ladies about setting up a twinning partnership with Lobangula City Queens from Zimbabwe. Once this is established we will look to extend the arrangement with some other Clubs. If you are reading this and you are from a Club who might be interested in twinning please let me know.

Vin O’Brien

Vin recently let me know that he has decided to retire as a Regional Rep for Formby after many years of service to KitAid.

I would like to pay tribute to Vin as without his support in the very early years I am certain KitAid would not be in the position it is today. In 2005 Sally Howe and myself attended a meeting at Anfield and met Vin for the very first time. Vin worked in the main PR team at Liverpool FC. He immediately understood what KitAid was about and he arranged to take the Champions League trophy into a local school, let the children have their photo taken with it and arranged for the donations to be presented to KitAid on the pitch at half time at Anfield. When he retired from the Club he came on board as a Regional Rep.

In the early years KitAid needed to build a reputation and to get the support of some big name clubs.  Vin’s support laid the foundations of where KitAid is today.

Enjoy your second retirement Vin and many thanks from all of your friends at KitAid.

2025 Thank You certificates

I have posted a number of certificates to the Regional Coordinators I am unlikely to see at a boxing up session in Hatfield. If you haven’t received any and you are unlikely to attend the next boxing up session please let me know. The next session is pencilled in for 8 March, and once the venue availability is confirmed, I will send out the invitation email.

Positive End Note

We received the following message from the Yayotse Organisation in Ghana which really captures the spirit of KitAid and why we all do what we do:

“KitAid has, by this donation, afforded our young people, who are mostly underprivileged and underserved, a glimmer of hope and a sense of belongingness that the world has their back.”

Thanks to everyone for your support which makes the above possible.

Derrick
KitAid

Hi all,

I hope you are all well and looking forward to the festive season.

November was a very busy month for KitAid and here are the key highlights and up to date totals.

Total number of items donated in November  –  14,630
Total number of items donated in 2024            –  91,552
Total number of items donated since 1998      –  1,119,000

Boxing Up – Hatfield

The final session of 2024 proved to be another memorable event with over 7,000 items and 204 boxes and bags being sorted and packed by the team.  It was also memorable as we invited two entirely different guests. The first was the High Sheriff of Hertfordshire, Annie Brewster, who represents King Charles, and the second guest was Alfie Watts, recent joint winner of the BBC series, “Race Across the World”.  Annie is dedicating her year in office to sport across the County and Alfie has delivered kit we have donated to projects in Malaysia and Mauritius.

They were both really taken aback by the sheer volume of kit we sort , box and donate and left the session knowing a lot more about KitAid.
We were also joined by volunteers from the Hertfordshire FA Youth Council who enjoyed the event and we look forward to seeing them in the future.

More than just football

Although KitAid is predominantly a football supporting charity we have branched out into different sports in recent years, such as athletics, tennis, netball, golf and cricket. This is now becoming more apparent in terms of the kit donations we are receiving. Recently the English Cricket Board, who were recommended to KitAid by Manchester United, donated 4 pallets of brand new England kit. The Lawn Tennis Association, who were recommended to us by the ECB, donated 3 pallets of brand new tennis clothing. We also received 6,000 brand new golf balls from Wentworth, which are destined for projects in Ghana and The Gambia. We are shortly expecting a large donation of kit from Nike UK.

All of the above clearly shows that KitAid is recognised as a trusted charity and we are growing year by year.

Financial Donations

Even though our operating budget is miniscule, less than £15,000 per annum, and we receive no grants, we are still able to support our charity partners financially when the balance allows. In November we made two grants.

• £1,000 to support the Christmas/New Year football/netball bonanza in Malawi.
• £200 to purchase footballs to support Ryan Tomlin FC in Sierra Leone.

Food prices have rocketed in Malawi and our very good friends, Friends of Mulanje Orphans, are having a very difficult time feeding the 2,000+ orphans they support every day of the year. Some of us have been lucky to witness the Bonanza and it is something that brings immense happiness and pride to all of the children who take part. With the current food situation the Bonanza was going to be scaled back this year, but hopefully our donation will now allow all of the children to take part and celebrate Christmas/New Year together.

Ryan Tomlin was a soldier in the British Army from Hemel Hempstead, who tragically was killed while on duty in Afghanistan. His best friend recently visited his home country of Sierra Leone and with kit donated, he formed a new football team in Freetown, called Ryan Tomlin FC. They also needed good quality footballs and our donation of £200 allowed him to buy footballs which will survive the rough terrain.

KitAid has always adopted the principle of rather than building up surplus funds, when the situation allows, we will make grants to support our charity partners.

Social Media

Ben W has done an excellent job in enhancing our social media presence through Linkedin, You Tube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter/X. The Film Friday clips are fantastic and really helpful in getting stories told visually.
We have our biggest following on Twitter/X with over 4,000 followers.  On Instagram in the past week our followers increased by 70 thanks to Alfie Watts promoting KitAid to his many thousands of followers.

If I could make a request, if you have an Instagram account, please follow kitaidcharity.  I fear with the direction Twitter/X has taken in charging for things and making it less friendly to use, Instagram will be our main source of promotion and we need to bolster the number of followers we have. I have tried to be diplomatic by not mentioning the owner of Twitter/X!!!

2024 Christmas Card

The new Christmas Card has kindly been designed by Carole P and is attached for you to send out to your contacts. The 2025 Thank You certificate is also in the final stages of sign off and will be available once printed. I will send printed copies to those that need them as well as an electronic copy to save on postage.

Very many thanks to Carole who retired from her design job a few years ago but has continued to support KitAid

Click for downloadable PDF Xmas Card 24

Lobengula City Queens – Zimbabwe

It is always great to be able to finish the monthly update with a positive story.

We have supported the Lobengula City Queens for a number of years through our partnership with the charity Majinkila Hope Foundation in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The girls team has been developing into a formidable squad and they proudly wear kit donated by the English FA.

Six of the girls who play in the U17 team have recently been called up by the Zimbabwe U17 National squad and two of the U15 girls have also been selected for their age group.  This is really incredible for a team that hasn’t been together for many years and it shows how important kit donations are, as without a proper kit, the team would have been excluded from playing together in a formal league.

Look out for updates on our social media sites

Well I think that is everything other than to say a very big thank you to everyone for your support.

An end of year update will be sent out before the Christmas close down and until then, take care and thanks again.

Derrick

Hi all,

I hope you are all well.

September has been another busy month and here are the latest totals

Total items of kit donated in September –  8,990
Total items of kit donated in 2024 –  66,901
Total items of kit donated since 1998 – 1,094,349

As you can see, we are now very close to reaching 1.1M items of donated kit, which I like as it is 100,000 items for every position on the pitch! That is more than a full Wembley Stadium for every position!

Courier Needed 

Unfortunately our long standing courier partner has changed their business model and can now only collect for us in the London area.  This is a big setback for KitAid as most of our donations are from all across the UK. The Regional Co-ordinators do a fantastic job in collecting for us in their areas but we use the couriers for the bigger donations of more than 10 full bin bags.

I have a meeting with the couriers on Thursday to see if they can recommend any other companies, If anyone knows of a suitable company please let me know.

Our biggest issue is that most courier companies only want to pick up loads that are already on pallets, whereas all of our collections are  loose bags and boxes. I am currently turning down offers of kit, which is hard to do, but until we find a new courier we cannot collect as much. If you do have any contacts or suggestions please let me know.

Rickmansworth Road Run – Sunday 27 October.

This event is close to our heart as I co-founded it way back in 1984, again as a “one off” celebration run!  This year will be the 40th Anniversary, how time flies, and KitAid is one of the chosen charities.

Matt T, our regional coordinator for Hitchin, is running for KitAid and he is looking for some other runners to join Team KitAid. If you, or any of your friends, are up to running 10 miles through the lovely Chiltern countryside, then please sign up and join Matt.
Entries are via www.rickyroadrun.co.uk

Matt has also set up a Just Giving page via https://www.justgiving.com/team/teamkitaid

Boxing Up Sessions

A successful boxing up session was held on Saturday at Hatfield with 155 boxes being packed and handed over to the charities who attended. Many thanks to all of the volunteers who were able to attend.

The next session is just around the corner, as our good friends, Everton Heritage Society, are holding one on the morning of Saturday 12 October at St Luke’s Church, Goodison, Liverpool. If you are within travelling distance of Liverpool or fancy a weekend break, you will receive a big Scouse welcome. We will also be recognising 10 years of support by Everton Heritage Society and Everton FC at the session.

KitAid medals

To supplement the Thank You certificates we have also produced a lovely KitAid medal, in the shape of a football shirt on a red/white ribbon.  They are intended for people who go the extra mile, and especially for younger supporters. If you would like some for your area or know of anyone who you think deserves one, please let me know.

Diamonds in the Community – Airdrie

Last week our very good friends and charity partner won a Provost Award for their outstanding services to the community in North Lanarkshire. A very big congratulations from KitAid and we are very proud to have been alongside Dougy and the team from the start of their journey. We are sure to be visiting them again next year for the Glasgow Kiltwalk, so if you fancy a leisurely 14 mile stroll and a few shandies we can celebrate the award with them in 2025!

The Positive End Story!

I always like to finish these updates on a positive note and this is another lovely story. Antonia, our RC for the Bristol area received a very big donation of Bristol City FC shirts from two sons who were clearing their Fathers house. He was the BCFC kit manager during the 1980’s, When she brought them up to Hatfield, for a boxing up session, Adam, one of the volunteers, immediately recognised that the shirts were rare and from the 1980’s.

Although from time to time we do spot a rare shirt we cannot auction or sell them as the donor Club insists that they leave Europe. However, as these came from the family we thought we would ask and offer to share any profit with another charity of their choice. Once Antonia explained the work we do they said they would be happy to let KitAid have all of the proceeds.Adam then offered to act as the point of contact and he set up an Ebay sales point.

Some of the shirts sold for £340 each and so far Adam has raised £3,400 for KitAidWe have also been contacted by the Club historian at BCFC and we have donated some shirts for a new museum they are in the process of setting up.

Thank you to the family, Antonia and Adam, for helping raise much needed funds for KitAid.

I hope you all have a good October and if you do know of a courier company who might be able to help with collections, storage and delivery to Hemel Hempstead, please let me know.

Thanks for your support.

Derrick

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