The Dr John Joseph Foundation
The Dr John Joseph Foundation is a charity established to work with children and young people, providing accommodation and support for those who have lost their parents and ensuring that the children in their care receive a good education, are physically well looked after and also providing emotional support. The Dr John Joseph Foundation has a well established sports programme and has organised weekly football sessions for hundreds of children in Chennai, providing free coaching each week and organising regular holiday clubs for the less fortunate.
President of the Foundation Churchill Joseph said "Football is a growing sport in India. Children want to learn how to play and to be like their heroes. Messi and Ronaldo are superstars here. Traditionally cricket was the most popular sport and although it is still very popular football is definitely catching up. Having a team like Chennaiyin FC playing at the top level in India definitely helps and kids here are also obsessed with European football. Teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United are huge. Having this partnership with a well established European coaching organisation is great for the kids and great for Chennai."
How can I help?
There are numerous ways to help this project:
- We currently offer sponsorship packages where it is possible to sponsor a young player, a coach or even an entire team.
- This is an extremely poor area and any donations for kit and equipment would be most appreciated.
For full details of this opportunity please contact paul@sirstanleymatthews.co.uk for further information.
CHENNAI, INDIA
In 2019 we began a partnership with the Dr John Joseph Foundation in India aimed at working with some of the poorest communities in the state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is Tamil Nadu's largest city with over 4 million people, is located on the east coast of India and our project is based on the outskirts of the city.
Our primary objective in 2019 has been the establishment of a football project with the potential for long term engagement with the local community. Through our partnership with the Dr John Joseph Foundation we were able to start working in the Thiruvallur area amongst the tribal community living there. We have employed two part time coaches, we have built two football pitches and we hold weekly training sessions for local children.
It is our aim to expand our work in India to work with more children and young people. Our first training session in February had 20 children coming along - three months later we had over 50! Football is growing massively in India and we want to be able to facilitate children from the poorest communities being able to take part, giving them an opportunity to receive high quality coaching and to enjoy learning how to play the game.