Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette
Over the last few months our lunchtime presenter Bob Simpson has led an appeal for used football boots and sports shoes to send to underprivileged children in Africa via the Boots2Africa campaign.
Millions of children across Africa, have no shoes, for school, life and playing games. Disease, infections and snakebites kill thousands and injure and incapacitate many others every year.
Boots2Africa collects, transports and distributes donated boots to Africa’s children and young adults through relief organisations.
The group’s founder, Iain Finch, came down to talk to Bob about his group’s progress and collect 120 pairs of boots that Bob has collected from all over the local area.
It’s not just for playing football – these boots will often be the best quality shoes that the children will own and they will file down any plastic studs to turn them into normal footwear.
It’s something that I’ve witnessed first hand – last year I flew out to Nakuru in Kenya with Iain and other volunteers from Colchester United’s Football In The Community charity.
As well as teaching in a school for a week, which was an amazing experience in itself, I helped distributed hundreds of boots to children from the poorest part of town, where the school was located.
If you have any boots or sports kit that you would like to donate please drop them off at the Phoenix FM studios at the Brentwood Centre and we will get them on their way.
You can find out more about the appeal at www.phoenixfm.com or www.boots2africa.co.uk.
* Members from Billericay Choral Society will be in to talk about their summer concert on Naomi Sayers’ Feelgood Saturday show this weekend.
* There will also be live music in the studio from Cool As A Moose, John Maplin and Orient Express.
