KitAid monthly update – February 2022

February was another busy month with deliveries or collections at the Hemel Hempstead containers almost every day. Here are the monthly totals:
Total items of kit donated in month     7,420
Total items donated so far in 2022     15,330
Total items donated since 1998          836,282
 
Countries donated to in February :    Uganda, Zimbabwe, Guinea-Bisau, The Gambia, DR Congo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Cape Verde, Sri Lanka, Kenya and South Africa.
 
Annual Review
 
I am pleased to have met the deadline of writing the new Annual Review by the end of the month and many thanks to those who have reviewed the content so far. All of the pictures have been found and sent to Carole, our designer, and the fun now starts for her as she has to squeeze it all into seven pages. Once this is completed it will be sent out again for a final review and then go to print. If all goes to plan I should be able to send out the printed copies in early April. It will be loaded onto our website and shared on social media so look out for it, as even though I say it myself, it is a good read!
Mary HD – Ambassador
 
We heard from Mary last week that after two and half years as our Ambassador she has decided to step down from the role.
We are very grateful for her support over the period and you would like to thank her and wish her the very best for the future. An article acknowledging her support has just been posted on to the front page of the KitAid website.
Boxing Up – Hatfield
 
After two very long years we have finally got a date in the diary for a full boxing up session at Hatfield, on Saturday 12 March. Thank you to those who let me know they could (or couldn’t) attend and we have 24 volunteers able to help out on the day. If you missed the email and would like to attend please let me know by return.
To add to the excitement, we should also have Premier League Today TV filming the journey of a shirt from the session all the way through to it being handed over in Accra, Ghana. I have had a couple of conversations with the programme researcher and will confirm everything next week.
Looking forward to those Danish pastries and Sean’s weird and wonderful megamix!
Sue Lopez
 
This is probably a name that won’t mean anything to you, it didn’t to me, but a lovely story has developed from a single kit donation.
Mark (Smith) drove over to Reading to collect a kit donation, which turned out to be a few boxes of Southampton Ladies FC old kit. The donor explained that her son had bought a house in Winchester and the garage was full of football memorabilia/records from Southampton Ladies in the 1970’s onwards. The previous owner, Sue Lopez had left them as she had moved into a care home.
Sue was a leading player in Women’s football from the 1960’s, playing for England, Southampton and then as a coach.
We put the new house owner in touch with the National Football Museum in Manchester and they have arranged to collect, catalogue and display some of the items.
“Its more than just a shirt………”
Ukraine
I am sure everyone reading this update feels shocked and horrified by the situation in Ukraine.
We have been asked if we can supply winter coats by one of our charity partners, the Myosotis Trust, who have previously donated our cold weather kits to their project in Romania. They are getting a shipment together to send to Ukraine via their existing links in Romania.
We have just been given a lot of fleeces by Club Wembley and we have some thick coats in the storeroom at Hatfield. Could I ask please that if you are attending the boxing up session on 12 March and you have any suitable winter clothing, you bring it along and we will add it to what we currently have.
Badges
 
As the first delivery of the beautiful gold enamel badges all dispersed so quickly, I have ordered another batch of 100.
They really are special and if you missed out last time, please let me know and I will discuss the best way of getting one to you. For those attending the boxing up session I can bring some along on the day, but otherwise, if you could email me please.
Finally, thank you to everyone for your support, especially over the last two years, when it would have been easy to move on from KitAid. We are lucky to have such a dedicated group of supporters and we do appreciate this.
 
 
Many thanks
Derrick
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Mary HD

KitAid Ambassador, Mary HD, has decided to stand down from the role after two and half years of support for our charity.

During her tenure as Ambassador she gave her dedicated support by promoting KitAid via her social media channels, through her music channels with the song “Love and Liberty” and the lovely accompanying film clip which included the KitAid FC children in Malawi. Mary also promoted different KitAid campaigns to her followers.

We would like thank Mary for all her dedication and commitment to KitAid in her role as Ambassador and wish her well for the future.

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KitAid Monthly Update – January 2022

First of all I would like to welcome Richie Gilham to the team as a new Regional Co-ordinator for Liverpool. We have known Richie for a number of years as he is our main contact at the Everton Heritage Society and has been instrumental in securing the use of St Luke’s, Goodison for boxing up sessions.  Thanks Richie and welcome to Team KitAid!

 

January has seen us getting off to a good start and here are the latest monthly totals

 

Items donated  –  7,910

Total items donated since 1998  –  828,862

Countries supported in January  –  Ghana, Romania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Cape Verde, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.

 

Thank You certificates

I have posted out 25 packs to Regional Co-ordinators who I do not see regularly and given some out to local helpers who I have met up with. I will try to hand over the remaining packs but if you need them now, please let me know and I will find a way of getting some to you. Many thanks to Carole for designing them and arranging printing.

 

Boxing Up

We held an outdoor session on Saturday morning at Hatfield as the storeroom was full. We handed over just over 2,100 items of mainly unsorted kit.

Hopefully the number of Covid cases will continue to fall and by the time the room is full again, we can return to indoor boxing up. This should be by March and we will review safety procedures in line with Affinity Water requirements at the time.

It will be wonderful to see everyone again after two very long years.

 

Sponsorship

We have a Trustee agreement not to sit on surplus funds while also being financially cautious to allow for any unexpected expenses. Where and when possible we make grants to support projects which fully meet our purpose. To enable people to participate in sport who may otherwise be disadvantaged through lack of facilities or required funds. We have given grants to the following partner charities as follows

 

FOMO Malawi  –  Sponsorship of KitAid FC teams for 2022  –  £1,000

FOMO Malawi  –  Sponsorship of Football, Netball, Athletics Bonanza in July 2022  –  £2,000

Bulindi Uganda  – Sponsorship of inter village team tournament to protect chimpanzees from poachers  –  £1,000

 

This still leaves us with an available balance of £11,500 to meet our costs in 2022, without any further funding.  Our annual costs for storage, courier collections and postage/marketing are in the region of £10,000.  Additional funding received in 2022 will allow us to meet any expansion costs and to consider other projects for support.

 

Annual Review

I now have a list of 20 stories from last year to write up and I hope to complete this by the end of February. It will then be sent out to people to proofread/sense check and once signed off, the hard work starts again as Carole has to design the layout with pictures, and squeeze it all into the available seven pages. It then goes off to the printers and copies will hopefully be mailed out to you in late March.

 

Activities

We have had a couple of events happening throughout the month which will soon be closing.

A very big thank you to www.matchwornshirts.com who have been collecting shirts from their customers for the “Coach the Coach” project in Ghana. Thanks also to @tomdedits and to all of the designers who have created wonderful AFCON players stickers. I have been posting the designs on our @kitaid sites and Tom has created a gallery on his site. As well as the designs over £200 has been donated on a special KitAid Just Giving page so far.

 

Thanks

As ever, we are very grateful to everyone for your support in collecting, storing and delivering kit for us.  A very big thank you to Tim (Twickenham) and Dave (Bradford) who also hired vans and delivered a full load to our containers in Hemel Hempstead.  This really helps as we not only save a courier collection fee but it is also quicker.

On Saturday (5 February), KitAid will be the match sponsor for the FC United of Manchester v Witton Albion FC match. Both teams are KitAid Ambasador Clubs. If you are looking for a good game to go to we can definitely recommend this one as the atmosphere at FC United games is special. A big thank you to Peter for arranging this.

 

Have a good February and keep well.

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KitAid Monthly/Annual update Happy New Year

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and here is wishing everyone a happy, healthy and fulfilling 2022.
Despite lockdowns and other Covid related frustrations KitAid has had an amazing 2021 with a record number of kits sent all across the globe. Here are the final end of year figures to enjoy.
Total number of kit items donated in 2021        =  114,328
Total number of kit items donated since 1998  =  820,952
 
Last year we sent out 74,421 items and in 2019, 86,445 items, which shows how much KitAid is growing. We are edging ever closer to the milestone of 1 Million items and we are on track to reach this in time for our 25th Anniversary in 2023.
Thank You
I often finish the monthly updates with a thank you but at the end of the year I think it is appropriate to start off with this.
KitAid is a team and we are really fortunate to have built up a Premiership winning squad of fantastic volunteers. Everyone plays a part and we appreciate this. We have some long standing stalwarts and some new signings but everyone makes a difference.
Thank you for your support in 2021, and the figures shown above reflect the difference everyone makes.
Highlights of 2021
 
Soon I will start work on the 2020 Annual Review and the test of remembering all of the fantastic things we delivered in the past year!
For me, without looking back at all of the hundreds of social media posts and monthly updates, I am most proud of the following
  • Setting a new record of donated items, working from containers in Hemel Hempstead, the storeroom in Hatfield and the Liverpool/Manchester links. With thousands of items of kit coming through from all of our regional volunteers.
  • KitAid Australia being set up, thanks to David Walker in Darwin.
  • Zanil, Haniff and Davie from the Kit Aid FC U17/U14 teams, receiving International recognition for Malawi.
There are plenty more and I would love to hear what yours are, as this will help me with the new Annual Review!
FOMO/KitAid Bonanza  
As I am writing this update hundreds of kids from all of the 14 orphan support centres across the Mulanje District, will be excitedly taking part in football and netball competitions. It culminates with the grand finals tomorrow and the glory for the winning centres to become the best at each sport.
KitAid with the help of Five Star Trophies in Hemel Hempstead has provided a medal for every child taking part. We wanted everyone to feel special and to have a keepsake to remind them of this special event.
Please look out for pictures on our social media sites over the next couple of days.
 
We have entered into a partnership with the above who run an auction site for, not surprisingly, match worn shirts!  They have links with every Premier League club kit manager and then auction the shirts after games to collectors.  You will be amazed at how much some shirts sell for, have a guess at how much some people will pay for a match worn Ronaldo shirt and then shock yourself by looking on their website!!
They are asking their customers to donate unwanted shirts to KitAid over the next month.
Thank You Certificates/ KitAid Supporter badges
As the beautiful gold enamel badges were so popular and all went so quickly, we have ordered another 100. If you missed out last time or know of someone who you think deserves one for their support of KitAid please let me know the details. They are the equivalent of our Blue Peter Badge, but far more sought after!
The 2022 Thank You certificate is currently in design and should be with you in a few weeks time. In the meantime please continue to use this year’s version or make a list of who to send one to once you receive the new ones.
I think that is everything for now and it just leaves me to thank you all again for your fantastic support in 2021. You have made an incredible difference to so many people all across the world, from Brazil to Samoa, which is a heartwarming way to end the year.
Take care, stay safe and have a Happy New Year.
Derrick
On behalf of the KitAid Trustees
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BCCP – Football Tournament report

KitAid is involved in some diverse projects, but who would have predicted our work could help protect chimpanzees in a Ugandan forest?

The following report explains how as well as reporting back on the 18 team tournament we sponsored.

BCCP Football Tournament 2021 – Report to KitAid (Dec 2021)

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A new member of our exclusive Ambassador Club

KitAid is delighted to announce Hibernian Community Foundation as a new member of our exclusive Ambassador Club.

This has followed the wonderful kit donation from the Hibs Girls Academy which was arranged by Lily Dixon and Academy Manager, Joelle Murray.

It is great to have Edinburgh represented alongside Airdrie and Stenhousemuir.

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Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas to all KitAid followers and thank you for your support.

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New Video Clip

Bisong Football Academy – KitAid Donation

This film clip shows the power of donated kit and how it can make a difference in so many ways. The power of football is immense and having a proper kit to participate is just as important.

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KitAid Monthly update – November 2021

November was another busy month with some big kit handovers and here are the latest totals
Number of items donated in November  =  14,915
Countries  =  Zimbabwe, Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Care4Calais refugees in Slough
Total items donated so far in 2021  =  111,548
Total items donated since 1998  =  818,172
 
Eastern European project support
 
Over the past 23 years we have supported a large number of charities who work in cold weather Eastern European countries and for some reason we seem to have either lost contact or the projects have moved on and we are now looking to find some new partner charities to support.  We have close to 20 boxes of brand new cold weather coats from Reading FC, Watford FC and Manchester United, along with other winter sports kit.
If you are aware of any UK based charities who are looking for this type of clothing for Eastern Europe, could you please let me have their details. The boxes will need to be collected from the containers at Hemel Hempstead. As the items are all club branded they cannot be used for projects in the UK.
Malawi U17/U14 National teams
 
I think by now everyone is aware of how proud we are that Zanil made it through the national trials to be selected for the Malawi U17 team. Remembering of course that he is still only 15.  On Wednesday, he was in the squad to play against Botswana in an U17 tournament which was being held in Lesotho. Unfortunately he didn’t get called on but there are more games to play and the teams drew 1-1.
You may also have seen that from our brilliant KitAid FC U14 team, four players were selected for national trials. They attended last weekend and are waiting to hear if they will be called back for the final trial. Fingers crossed they will be and who knows where this could lead to for each boy.  We should also know soon who they will be playing in the National competition for District League winners.
As well as making us feel incredibly proud, it shows the depth of talent that exists for the FOMO children, and they are fortunate to receive the support from Mary, Keith and the team, to identify and develop this. Long live FOMO!
Boxing Up – Hatfield
 
After the very successful mini boxing up session held in October, we wanted to wait to see how things were in the Covid world and hopefully hold another session in December. There is also the usual juggling act of making sure we have enough kit to sort, enough charities who can collect and enough volunteers to help out on the day.
Unfortunately, with the advent of the very unwelcome new Covid variant and a combination of the juggling requirements not quite falling into place, we have had to play safe and delay things until next year.  Hopefully sooner rather than later. As soon as we are in a position to proceed we will let you know.
UK Support
 
As mentioned in the last monthly update, we are keen to support local projects where we can with unbranded or obscure (i.e. not UK teams) kit.
We have supplied a Care4 Calais project in Slough with a number of winter coats which had no branding, donated a few hundred pairs of socks to the New Hope Trust homeless charity in Watford and some lovely Olympic Marseille scarves and bobble hats to children who attend the Ngorli school in Watford.  We have worked with Ngorli for a number of years, supporting their projects in Ghana, but they also run a great Saturday morning school to help kids who are struggling at mainstream school here. They have teachers who support the kids with reading, writing and then for the older children, with homework and GCSE syllabus work. There are some lovely pictures of the kids on our FB/Twitter sites and they were happy with the scarves, hats and gloves even though they had no idea who Olympic Marseille were!!
Photos from 2021
 
As we haven’t produced a calendar for 2022 I will do a daily top 4 photos of 2021 for the 12 days of Christmas on Twitter/FB/Instagram. There are hundreds of lovely photos so do look out for them and if you have a particular favourite please let me know and I will include it.
Football/Netball Bonanza
 
FOMO will be holding their annual football/netball bonanza between Christmas and New Year, which is a major highlight for the kids who all come together from their 14 orphan support centres.
KitAid decided to give every child something to keep and remember the event and we have sent over 1.000 beautiful shiny gold medals on a  ribbon.  We received a big (50%) discount from Five Star Trophies in Hemel Hempstead and we sent the boxes over by air freight to make sure they arrived in time.  They did and we can’t wait to see the pictures of hundreds of kids wearing the medals at the end of the month.
2022 Thank You certificates
 
Another year flies by (apart from during lockdown!) and it is time to start work on the new Thank You certificates.
Once the photos have been chosen the next step is for Carole to design the layout. Once this is signed off it will go to the printers and I can then post them out to you or send the artwork.  All being well this should be complete by mid January and if you do need to hand any out in the interim, please keep using the current version.
Awards
 
I will get back on to my soap box and raise the thorny subject of despite all of the amazing things KitAid achieves, I believe our hard work mostly goes unrecognised!!!  At this time of the year I see so many charities posting about awards they have won and even though I know I shouldn’t, I can’t help but feel irritated that you all do so much, but we don’t get recognised.
I only raise it, as I haven’t got the soap box out for a while!, in case anyone sees an up and coming award event that we can realistically enter. They do involve a bit of work, which I am happy to do, so please let me know if you do see or hear of anything relevant.
Soap box put away now, until the next time!!
As I am writing this update, a tournament is taking place in Bangladesh, where we have supplied kits for the teams and local schools. This shows the reach of little KitAid and all of our efforts. We can now reach across different Continents.
Thank you for your support and I hope you all stay well and have a wonderful Christmas.
Derrick
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KitAid Monthly Update – October 2021

October has been another busy month and here are the totals to date

Total items donated in October  –  11,903

Total items donated in 2021  –        96,633

Total items donated since 1998  –  803,257

Kit donated to the following countries in October, Liberia, Gambia, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Nigeria and Malawi.

 

Boxing Up, Hatfield

After a long and lonely gap of 18 months we were finally able to hold a “mini” boxing up session at Hatfield in person. Thanks to Affinity Water for giving us permission to use their facilities once again and thanks to everyone who was able to help out. It was lovely to see everyone after such a long gap and with a number of safety protocols put in place, the session went smoothly. We will continue to monitor the Covid situation and as more of us of a certain age receive the booster jab, we should be in a good position to hold a slightly bigger session once the storeroom fills up. Watch this space and fingers crossed, we may even be able to have the traditional KitAid photo under the Affinity Christmas tree.

 

William Hill Collection

Although the collection at shops around the country was held in the last two weeks of September, the donated kit was not actually delivered to the container until early October. We then held an outside count up thanks to our group of “retired” volunteers (thanks guys), and altogether 1,610 items were received.

From the donated items you could see certain regions, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds etc, had really got behind the appeal which is great. We know the BBC “Kit Out the Nation” campaign in September  had an impact but even so, the total items donated is enough to kit out over 100 teams.

Very many thanks to Sharon, Alex, Steph and the team at William Hill for arranging the collection and for their support. Hopefully there will be a repeat collection in early January.

 

Refugee Support

During October we teamed up with Care4Calais to support their refugee projects in Reading, Slough and Luton with unbranded but brand new football kits. Talking to the project leads it was interesting to hear how most of the refugees have very little to do and how football is not only a way of exercising, but a way of bonding. As they did not have proper kit they were playing in whatever clothes they possessed, often getting them muddy or damaged, with limited washing facilities. We were also able to pass on some brand new childrens winter coats to Afghan asylum families in Harrow.

 

KitAid Calendar 2022

Unfortunately the response to the question in last month’s update regarding potential interest in buying a calendar was limited and so, we have decided not to go ahead. It is a shame and it also means we have lost out on a fundraising activity, but for the amount of work/time involved, it is for the best. As 2023 will be a very big year for us, with the 25th Anniversary in July, perhaps we can do a special calendar then?

 

KitAid FC

Both U14 and U17 teams are top of the Mulanje District Leagues and sadly, the U14’s lost their 100% record recently.  As they have become the team to beat, an opposition team decided to play over age players to get a win. It didn’t go unnoticed and it has been reported to the League, but remains to be seen if the result will be voided.  However, since then they have won 5-0 and 10-0 and are playing again as I write this update. The winners of each District League will then go forward to play each other in a National competition, which is really exciting for the boys.

At the end of November, Zanil will join up with the Malawi U17 National squad to play in a tournament in Lesotho, with games against Zambia and the Seychelles in their group. What an incredible experience for him at 15 years old and an inspiration to all of the FOMO children. Good luck Zanil.

 

Sean McGuigan 

We couldn’t let the opportunity pass to wish our much loved Treasurer, Trustee and friend to all, a long and happy retirement after 30 plus years at Affinity Water. Sean was a pioneer in the very early days of inventing water and has enjoyed supping it in the form of an ancient Dutch form, also known as Oranjeboom!

Good luck Sean, enjoy your new found freedom and keep counting the KitAid beans to keep you occupied.

 

Thank You

It has been great to meet some of our new Regional Co-ordinators recently, even more so as they have travelled from Mansfield, Ashford and Chelmsford to support events. Welcome to Chris, Ben and Barrie. A very big thank you to all of our Regional helpers as we know you are doing a lot in the background collecting and storing kit for us. I really hope that one day we will be able to hold a proper get together, somewhere central for everyone, and celebrate properly. Now there is a thought for the 25th Anniversary in 2023.

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