When he’s not delighting children with his goals, or terrifying them with his face, Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt is doing what he can to improve their life through the Dirk Kuyt Foundation.
Established a year ago, the foundation seeks to improve the lives of people in some of the poorest countries in the world as well as the inner cities of Holland, eventually being recognised by UNICEF and Dutch politicians,
“Footballers are fortunate because we are paid good money for doing something that we enjoy. I just think that when it is possible I should try to give something back because I am aware that not everyone is as fortunate as I am.
“Whenever the collectors came to my door looking for donations for charity I always gave money but I just felt that I could do something more, that maybe a footballer could help something happen in one year that might otherwise have taken five.”
“I have a contract with Adidas and whenever I do commercials with them I give the money to the foundation.
“I also have a Dirk Kuyt clothing line on the Internet where people can buy t-shirts, caps and socks and all the money from this is also given to the foundation.”
So plenty of respect goes to Dirk Kuyt for doing what most people, let alone excessively rich Premiership footballers, could learn a lot from. His work makes the next footballer to appear on MTV’s Cribs look like a complete prat.
You can read more about Dirk’s efforts here, or visit the Dirk Kuyt Foundation directly here.