Sunderland answers the call for its community with sports kit donations

In just a matter of weeks, Kit Out Sunderland collected 224kg of sports kit, active wear and footwear to give away to local participants like Dean across the city.

"Lack of kit and lack of suitable kit is a real barrier to children and young people taking part in sport and physical activity," says Kathryn Foley, North East Regional Manager for Sported.

"The point of the project is to gather in unwanted and unused kit that people have got lying around and then distribute it to the community groups that can really make best use of it."

One of those groups was Young Asian Voices, with their Executive Manager, Ram Kumareswaradas, adding: "Most of the young people that come into our group don't have kits, so it stops them from participating.

"By having these donated items, sports clothing and shoes and trainers, it opens up opportunities for young people and adults to take part in sports." 

In total, 13 public donations stations were set up at locations around the city and local area, as well as at Nissan's manufacturing plant specifically for Nissan employees and their families.

The kit collected has been swiftly given to local sports groups so that they can provide it to participants and people looking to get active but find having the right kit a barrier.

Susan Kitchen, from another one of the recipient groups, Grace House, reflects: "For disabled young people and their families facing financial pressures, this kind of support can make a real difference. It's not just about clothing—it's about dignity, opportunity, and belonging.

"Grace House are also proud to be part of a campaign that reduces waste and landfill by giving pre-loved sports clothes a second life."

Kit Out Sunderland is a partnership between Active Sunderland, Rise, Sported, StreetGames and Youth Sport Trust, funded by the North East Combined Authority.

Louise Laws, Strategic Lead for Children and Young People's Health and Wellbeing at Rise, says: "Not everyone has the kit, clothing or footwear they need to do what they want, so these generous donations will make a huge difference to break down barriers to participation and mean more children, young people and families can get active, get healthier and build friendships and confidence.

"The environmental benefits the programme has also supported has made a huge impact, with less textile waste going to landfill."

Keep Active were also one of the groups to have received kit, and their Director, Colin Dagg, says: "Sport has always been expensive because you've got to buy things, but I think more so now, just in the times we're living in, everybody's money is so tight, and a lot of children miss out I think purely and simply because they haven't got the money, parents can't afford it."

Karen Nobel, CEO of Pallion Action Group, adds: "We were so pleased to be a recipient of Kit Out Sunderland. This would obviously have gone into landfill and now it's not, it's gone back into the community, it's going to remove barriers for those young people and adults who want to get into physical activity but haven't got the kit."

Anna Coulson, StreetGames Network Lead - North East, comments: "The Kit Out Sunderland sorting day was a huge success which involved a lot of stakeholders as well as volunteers from various Foundation of Light community programmes.

"It was great to see all of the kit which had kindly been donated from the people of Sunderland and even better to see the community organisations receiving the much needed bags of really good sports kit, which will I'm sure be gratefully received by the young people and families they work to support."

Andrea Baldwin, Active Sunderland Project Lead, concludes: "Kit Out Sunderland has been a fantastic opportunity to work with some amazing local partners across the region to encourage participation for some of our most vulnerable residents.

"By working with the community and businesses partners, we were able to reach out to the community to get people to donate their unwanted sports kit, to give it a new home. I hope we've made a huge difference."