CHARITIES
INTRODUCING THE RADLEIAN SOCIETY CHARITY ALLIANCE FOR 2023-24:
KIT 4 KENYA
Kit 4 Kenya was founded in the summer of 2017 by 6.1s Tom Sweetnam & Archie Barrow (both 2014, J). At school they loved sport, football in particular, and landed on the idea of recycling sports kit by sending it to those who needed it, in Kenya. My name’s Tom Sweetnam, and I’ve recently graduated from the University of Exeter. Just a few months ago I landed a job at Red Bull Racing working in the Marketing team. I am the co-founder of Kit 4 Kenya (Registered Charity number: 1202039) and have been running it since its inception, six years ago. I’ve always been incredibly passionate about sport (football in particular) and, like most young boys, I dreamt of playing for my boyhood club, Arsenal! As I came to realise my ability wasn’t anywhere near good enough to scrape into the first XI at Radley, let alone play for Arsenal, I realised I would have to try and find another way to fulfil my dream. Fast forward 15 years and my charity, Kit 4 Kenya, is an official partner with Arsenal FC. We work with the club helping to recycle their excess stock, sending out thousands of their kits every year. So, how did we get to where we are now? At the beginning of my 6.1 year at Radley, I was involved in an extracurricular activity called Ed Club, in which we made online
calls to kids in Kenya on a weekly basis, teaching them English and Maths. After seeing the stark reality of what life in the Kenyan slums looked like for these children, and with the help of my mate Archie, we decided to collect as many unwanted pairs of football boots as possible from our mates at school. In our first collection we managed to amass 50 pairs of second-hand boots which we subsequently sent out to the kids in a couple of suitcases. We were not prepared for the reception that these seemingly unwanted football boots, donated by Radley boys, would generate … the videos of pure elation and joy only spurred on our drive to take the venture to the next level.
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the old radleian 2023
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