Last year, we told you about a young boy called Kaleb who was at risk of being excluded from school. His deputy head teacher had gotten in touch to ask if we could help in some way. We found out that he and his 4 siblings had been removed from their mum’s care due to issues of neglect and substance misuse – after police visited the home, it was found to be ‘uninhabitable for human life.’

We helped the family in all sorts of ways, but one of the most significant things we did was to help Kaleb and his brother join their local football team.

His teacher had told us that Kaleb loved football but his family couldn’t afford the fees for him to join his local club. We paid the fees for both him and his brother, and also provided training kit for them. It seemed like a small thing, but at the time, his deputy head teacher said it was a turning point for Kaleb… she said “I cannot tell you how much you have changed the path for this young boy.

Kaleb is doing so well that he has been moved up and is playing in a team with children 2 years older than him and has also been invited to play in a district team. And his brother has been scouted and is going to be doing trials for one of the big clubs.

Kaleb is also doing much better in school as well. The football fees were fairly inexpensive compared to some of the bigger things we did for the family, but it’s often the little things that make the biggest difference.

So many of you asked us to let you know if Kaleb or his family need help with fees again in the future- which is what our request is for this week! We’d love to make sure Kaleb can keep playing football, and would like to raise funds to cover his fees, trips and kit for the coming year. We’d like to do the same for his brother, and also pay for some activities for his sisters too.