A Bushey schoolboy is collecting dozens of football boots to send to underprivileged children.
Charlie Belasco, 12, and his friend Daniel are both football fanatics. When Charlie’s mum, Natalie, came across Charity Boots, a UK-based charity that collects unwanted football boots and donates them to children across the world, she knew it was the perfect cause for her son to support.
Speaking to BUSHEYnews, she described the charity as “phenomenal”.
She said: “You see these photos of kids having a kick around with no shoes on and the charity sends boots all over the world – to Ukraine, Israel and countries in Africa.”
Neil, who founded the charity, manages the “astronomical cost” of transporting the boots by making deals with postal companies like DHL. He then turns to families and communities to do the groundwork by collecting the boots.
Charlie and Daniel set 300 as their goal and have already amassed an impressive 115 pairs so far.
Barnet FC allowed Charlie to collect boots on a home match day and advertised his project to their fans in their newsletter and on their social media. The family are “huge” Tottenham Fans and Natalie was delighted to be able to collect two bags of academy player boots from Tottenham’s training ground last week.
Natalie said: “The boys don’t like cleaning their own boots normally but they’re sitting there and happily doing it for others – it’s really humbling.”
The collection started in April and finishes at the end of June. You can email natalie@nataliebelasco.com if you have boots you would like to donate
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