The Bankstown Cricket Club has organised its tenth shipment of cricket bats and other sporting equipment, uniforms and books to be donated to young, underprivileged cricket players in Uganda.
Federal Member for Blaxland, Jason Clare MP and Bankstown Mayor, Linda Downey today joined local club members to help pack the 40-foot container with more than $500,000 worth of donated gear ready to be sent this year.
“What a fantastic initiative by the Bankstown Cricket Club. It shows the generosity of our local community.
“Since the Bankstown Cricket Club first started sending containers full of cricket gear, the number of people playing cricket in Uganda has increased from 5,000 to 52,000.
“I’m so proud of our community,” Mr Clare said.
The Bankstown Cricket Club is sending 350 bats, 100 helmets, 100 pairs of wicket-keeping gloves, over 400 pairs of pads, and over 200 pairs of battling gloves, 2,000 books, $100,000 worth of clothing and $75,000 worth of uniforms.
Donations have been received from very generous local families, clubs, sports retailers and businesses.
Bankstown Cricket Club assistant secretary Brian Freedman said the equipment drive started when he met the Ugandan team at the 2004 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh when he was managing the Australian under-19 cricket team at the time.
“We noticed they were so poor they were swapping bats and helmets as they were going out to represent their country.
“We discussed it here at my club and decided we’d do something about it,” Mr Freedman said.
Media Contact: Jamie Wassef Phone: 9790 2466
