A charity which sends sports equipment to underprivileged communities in Africa is celebrating its 20th birthday.

KitAid, which is based in Hertfordshire, is now looking for volunteers, partner clubs and storage space to help it continue its work.

This summer, it has also passed the milestone of sending over 500,000 items to Africa, South America, Asia and Eastern Europe.

The kit, including football shirts, shorts, socks and boots, as well as tracksuits and training equipment, is taken across the world. Items that might be stuck at the bottom of a drawer or in a box at the bottom of a storage pile are given a new home as a proud possession of communities that could be facing poverty, war and disease.

As well as giving people and sports clubs new kits to play in, many are used in conjunction with development and education projects.

It celebrated its 20th anniversary last month, alongside late Watford manager Graham Taylor's wife, Rita Taylor.

Mr Taylor worked tirelessly to promote the work of KitAid, and personally wrote to the kit men of each of the Football League's 92 clubs.

The project was started in 1998 when founder Derrick Williams MBE visited Tanzania with WaterAid to look at water development projects in the country.

Upon returning to the UK, Derrick and his friends decided to send a box of their unneeded football shirts to the community, and have not stopped since.

KitAid Founder Derrick Williams said: “To have reached 500,000 football fans across the world, and to have provided them with kit to play the game we all love is a heart-warming experience.

“We have a saying that ‘it's more than just a shirt’ and we see this often as the kit is used to engage with so many different community projects.

"These can range from health education, sports participation, crime prevention and even engagement with poachers to stop chimpanzees being killed in Uganda. KitAid is a volunteer based charity which reaches out across the world and shares the joy of football and sports participation.”

For more information on KitAid and to find out how you or your club could get involved, follow @KitAid on Twitter, or visit www.kitaid.net.