Probably one of the most enjoyable aspects of KitAid is being able to help so many people across the world.  As you will know, we operate a very cost effective model and we have always worked on the basis that if we do build up a surplus of funds, we will mange our finances responsibly and make grants for what we consider to be surplus to needs, rather than sitting on money in the bank.

As a result of the 15th Anniversary Dinner and some other donations we were able to release £4k for small grants to charities we know and work with.  We have made the following grants to

  • Craft Aid – £1,000                     Working with orphanages and sports projects in Uganda
  • Stegota FC – £1,000                To be used on a special project for the community to supply shirt printing equipment
  • Maleala Lesotho – £750          To buy kit, equipment and boots for 35 players from age of 10 – 16 years
  • Mbale Uganda – £1,000          To buy kit, equipment, goal posts, netballs for 200 pupils at Budwale Secondary School

We visited the brilliant Footy Camp project on 18 July to see the final day of the event, which really is a great day.  I have been 5 times now and each time I come away totally inspired by the great work Peter (Thompson) and his team do, but I do think this years camp was the best ever. 

The atmosphere was great and the boys were buzzing.  We all ran the “gauntlet” and survived and World Cup final went to penalties which Holland won (so I did get to see Holland wing the WC after all). We also visited the drop in centre where all of the great work takes place throughout the year  and Peter showed us a model of new centre which will be built, from later on this year.

It was great that Jason Fidler and the team from Charlie’s Gift were able to come along as well, especially as their donation funded the camp this year.  We had a great time and I think everyone came away feeling it was money well spent and we know we have made the right decision to keep supporting Peter in his amazing work.

For the last 4 years we have had a tenuous link with another great charity who arrange for a plane load of children from Belarus, who still are affected by the Chernobyl radiation fall out, to spend a month in the UK with host families.

Through our link with Affinity Water we arrange for them to spend a day at our Environment and Education Centre, which they absolutely love. 

We also give them a goody bag which includes some new kit and other presents.  The children actually boost their immunity in the time they are in the UK to see them through the next 18 months, which is quite amazing. 

If you know of anyone who might be able to arrange a special visit for them please let me know at derrick.williams@affinitywater.co.uk

As ever, we have a busy diary of events which we would love to include you all in.  We never say no to help, so if you can get involved please let me know.

  • Watford FC Open Day                                                               6 August
  • Charlie Fidler Tournament, Hemel Hempstead                 6 September
  • Non League Day kit collection at Chesham Utd                 6 September
  • FC United of Manchester collection, Stalybridge                20 September
  • Boxing up, Hatfield                                                                    27 September

 

We are conscious of how much all of you do behind the scenes and without this we would definitely struggle.  Thanks for your support and may your team make you proud for the new season!!

We recently met Rachel Yankey and at our last boxing up session it was great to meet Jordan Nobbs.

I have always wanted to develop a partnership with ALFC as they are followed all over the world and it links in with a lot of the work we do to support girls football/sports projects across Africa. Both Rachel and Jordan were lovely, really down to earth and refreshingly interested in what we do.

Again, the power of twitter showed itself as Jordan tweeted a photo we took at boxing up and this was viewed by 5,800 people, including followers in Japan, America and Germany.

If you don’t use twitter, have a look online at www.twitter.com/kitaid Thanks to Louisa for arranging the meet up and we are hoping to involve Arsenal Ladies a lot more in the future.

Well done to Stegota FC on winning the very first KAKC final on 7 June. They beat Naaj Marine 7 – 3 and lifted a beautiful trophy which you can see on their Facebook page.

Naaj Marine are linked to Marine FC in Liverpool, who we know very well through Barry Lenton. Barry has given kit and support to Naaj which is how we managed to get the game arranged.

This will now become an annual event and I am sure Naaj will be looking for revenge, and they were hampered this year by their star striker having to sit out the game as he had a boxing match the following day!!

Many thanks to Julian Chenery from AIG Insurance for arranging this event, which happened on Friday 13 June. I have seen press cuttings from different parts of the UK, including Devon, Cornwall and Glasgow.

Julian is in the process of collecting all the kit so we are not sure exactly how much we will receive yet.

Hopefully this will become an annual event and next year we can get even more companies involved. I have also been contacted separately by Schroders in the City, who are doing something similar for us.

Our diary is always busy but if you are able to help out with any of the following it would be much appreciated. 

  • Charlie Fidler Memorial Tournament – Hemel Hempstead, 6 July
  • Inet World Games – Preston, 19 July
  • FC United collection, Stalybridge, 6 September
  • Ricky Road Run, Chorleywood, 26 October

Please let me know if you are able to help by emailing derrick.williams@affinitywater.co.uk

Probably one of the biggest brands in world football and a club that wouldn’t normally work with small charities like KitAid.  Well, thanks to our fantastic Patron, Graham received a call from the MUFC club secretary as their kit manager had held on to the letter Graham sent out to all 92 league clubs last year. 

Fortunately Graham knew the guy as they were both at Watford some years ago and he put in a good word for us.  Peter (Moulds) recently visited Carrington training centre and came away with 30 bin bags of training kit, followed by a further 15 boxes which they delivered to his flat last week.  Hopefully we are now on their radar and we will receive future donations as they upgrade their kit. Really looking forward to opening the bin bags to see if there any famous player kit or boots. The quality of the kit is bound to be first class and there will be some very fortunate teams soon wearing kit from one of the most popular teams in the World.

Graham’s letter has paid off as this month we have also had donations from Reading, Barnet and Carlisle.

We have entered into an amnesty with Airdrie which will kick off later in June. 

The guys have received formal sponsorship and will be offering all under 12’s a free season ticket if they donate their old kit.  They have set themselves a target of collecting 10,000+ items of kit and tried to register it with the Guinness World Record people. 

The publicity should be really good as they have good links with the national media in Scotland and as it is such a novel idea hopefully there will be some good coverage. 

Hold the back page as they say!