KitAid 12/11/2009
KitAid is a charity, run entirely by volunteers, which arranges for unwanted sports kit to be collected, sorted and then sent out to children and adults across the world, who love the game but do not have any basic equipment to be able to play. In the past 11 years 100,000 items of kit have been collected and sent out to over 30 different countries in Africa, Asia, South America and Eastern Europe.
KitAid has Graham Taylor OBE as patron and has received support from a number of well known stars such as Les Ferdinand, Lee Sharpe, Bob Wilson and more recently Aaron Lennon. KitAid has also been featured on Soccer AM and has recently won an award for environmental best practice, which is being presented in November at the House of Commons. As the charity is run by volunteers and all of the kit is delivered by charity partners who are already sending out their own deliveries KitAid’s expenses are minimal.
At the 10th Anniversary dinner held last year, an auction was held which raised £5,000 and the funds have been used to construct a hard court surface area at a school in Sierra Leone, sponsorship of a football coaching project for Romany children in Bulgaria, and the sponsorship of a football camp to bring Catholic and Protestant children together in Belfast. KitAid is a really successful charity which hopes to share the passion of football in a positive way to children and adults across the world.
On a recent trip to Nigeria, one of the Charity’s supporters, Lesley Ann Barnes, took a shirt signed by Aaron Lennon that had been donated by a school. Although the shirt was originally intended for boys at a school in St Albans, their teacher was adamant that because of their bad behaviour, it should be donated to a needy child in Africa. For more information on KitAit and how to give your support, please visit www.veoliawater.co.uk/kitaid