The Amy Foundation

In 2004 Eric was invited to visit South Africa to see how cross community activities were being used to help the understanding and perspectives of the underprivileged young people who lived in the Townships in Cape Town.

This experience prompted him to set up an annual Sports Academy for the Amy Foundation (formerly Amy Biehl Foundation) which involved Sports Coaches from Northern Ireland to run a Sports Camp each year bringing together children from different communities to engage with each other through sporting activities.

The first few years saw both Hockey and Football being organised and then golf was added to the list. Through the organisation of fund-raising activities and the kind assistance of some local Business Owners, a group of 16 children and 4 Supervising adults were brought to Northern Ireland for their first ever holiday. For every young person it was their first ever flight on an aeroplane and their first ever exposure to things we take for granted like a dishwasher, washing machine, fridge freezer etc.
The children were all housed with loving families who gave them lots of kindness and respect. This experience was repeated again in 2014 with another group of 10 children who were attending the Foundation’s daily programmes in Cape Town.

Eric is now an Ambassador for the Foundation and speaks regularly at International Conferences on the subject of giving back to the community and how it is central to being an Authentic Leader. The work that has taken place over the years to support the children would not have been possible without the giving nature of some very special people and Sports Clubs in Northern Ireland.

The impact on the children has been amazing seeing a significant number of them progress to University education and achieving good jobs and careers.