Dirk Kuyt: Pride in LFC charity work

Dirk Kuyt expressed his pride at the commitment Liverpool Football Club and its players continue to show towards charity work and change both locally and around the world. The Dutchman set up his own Dirk Kuyt Foundation in 2006 shortly before moving to Anfield from Feyenoord and the charity has helped transform the lives of youngsters around the world, from Nepal and Ghana to Brazil. Last week Liverpoolfc.tv reported how Kuyt had shown his support for the Oliver King Foundation, whose main aim is to have the government introduce defibrillators to all public buildings by 2017, and provide staff with the appropriate training. Kuyt's teammate Daniel Agger launched his own charity earlier this year and Craig Bellamy has played an important role in developing youth football in Sierra Leone over the past three years. Locally, the Steven Gerrard Foundation and Jamie Carragher's 23 Foundation have made massive progress working with communities closer to home and Kuyt told the Liverpool Echo that there could be potential for his charity to extend its work to Merseyside. "The great thing about being at Liverpool is that the club does a lot of charity work," said Kuyt. "At Christmas we go to the hospitals and the club supports so many other community projects. "A lot of the players do a lot of charity work. There's Stevie, Carra and Daniel doing something very good and there are others as well. It's great to see players doing their bit to give just a little bit back." "There are a lot of people in Liverpool and elsewhere in the UK I'd like to help. I would like to do something here but we need to think about how we are going to do it. "It's a good idea to sit down with a few people in Liverpool to see where we can help and what we can do. Hopefully it will happen in the future." On the pitch, Kuyt's work-rate and dedication to the Liverpool cause has marked him out as a crucial and dependable part of the Anfield set-up. Off the field, his professionalism and devotion to helping improve the lives of others, singles him out as one of Liverpool Football Club's finest ambassadors. "I've always appreciated what I've had in my life," said Kuyt. "I've been very fortunate to be a football player. Football was and is a hobby for me. I never expected it to become my job. "I'm in a great position and the least you can do as a football player is to give something back to the community and to the people who are always watching you. "I just like to make people happy. And for me it's just a small thing. With my name in football I can reach a lot of people and together we can do something great for all these children." The foundation was set up in Kuyt's hometown of Katwijk six years ago as a means of reaching out to as many people as possible and initially its influence was felt worldwide. "We started off with three projects," explained Kuyt. "One in Brazil for street children, one in Nepal raising money to build a house for children with HIV and we also supported the UNICEF work in Ghana to build schools there. "After two years we decided to make some changes as it was difficult for people to see what we were doing. We decided to support one thing rather than three different things in three different countries so everyone would know what the Dirk Kuyt Foundation stood for. "We started to support disabled children, providing them with all different kinds of sports. We've been doing that for the past four years and it's been going really well. "It has grown quickly and now we support around 64 projects across the country. There is not enough money for these children to do the things they like to do. We're able to give them the chance they deserve to play sports."