Family of Maddy Cusack launch fundraiser to create foundation in her honour

Transcript

00:00 So I'm Richard, I'm Maddie's elder brother, the oldest of four and this is my sister Olivia.

00:04 Yeah so I am number three and we have set up a foundation in our sister's honour so it's

00:12 the Maddie Cusack Foundation and our hopes really are to inspire the next generation of

00:21 female footballers so it's about making a difference within women's football both on

00:27 and off the pitch and helping them as they move up into the game really. Yeah I think we really

00:33 want to continue Maddie's legacy which was about creating an opportunity for young girls to get

00:39 into football and provide them with a chance to become a footballer and also to just really

00:46 continue keeping Maddie in the sort of the forefront of the public conscience really to

00:51 be honest that's what we want to get out of this isn't it really? Yeah so Maddie she worked at

00:56 Sheffield United's Community Foundation and she started working with younger girls and helped them

01:04 kind of find their feet within football and she helped a number of them get into the game through

01:11 helping them out with different clubs and facilities, equipment and it's really important

01:17 for us as her siblings to carry on that legacy like Richard said and just carry on with the work

01:24 that she started doing really. Maddie's role as the Community Foundation which was her first job

01:30 at Sheffield United was to sort of create those opportunities and create the chances for people

01:34 who maybe don't have the access to anything they need to be given what they need to succeed really

01:40 to be honest and have an impact on the community and those who are perhaps less fortunate and with

01:45 less opportunity and also I think Maddie was always one of the last people at a match taking

01:51 photos of youngsters and talking to them and just being generally nice and friendly wasn't she so

01:56 yeah really kind of it's continuing her the impact that she would have had if she was here it's

02:01 about continuing that isn't it? Yeah so on the foundation social media we put out a post calling

02:08 all aspiring footballers and we've had a number of young girls, parents, family members ranging

02:15 from sort of five to late teens who have kind of shared their stories with us about how Maddie

02:21 impacted them whether they'd met her themselves or just through like watching her on the pitch

02:26 so it's been really nice to put like faces to names and experiences. Maddie would often tell

02:32 us about girls that she'd meet or like met through football so it was really nice to be able to

02:38 share their stories as well because the foundation for us is really about creating a community feel

02:44 making everybody feel heard and involved which is what Maddie always tried to do herself so

02:50 that's we're just trying to carry on that really through social media. Yeah and it's you're seeing

02:55 now like a tangible effect of what Maddie was to people aren't you? You're seeing that in real

03:01 sort of in front of your eyes which is a time of great sadness and sorrow it's a real comfort

03:05 for me and my family. Yeah we had a vigil at Bramall Lane a couple of weeks ago and the

03:12 inspiration for the foundation came from a little girl that we met she was called Madison she came

03:19 over to us as a family which was really really lovely and comforting at the time and she expressed

03:24 that she well she had a t-shirt on with a picture of Maddie her name on it and introduced herself as

03:30 Madison but said she was going to change her name to Maddie in honour of our sister and she explained

03:36 that she'd met Maddie before her family her parents were there as well they had lots of pictures with

03:40 Maddie which they've sent over to us with like a little testimony if you like of their experience

03:45 with her and I remember my mum said to Madison she said now you need to play for Maddie like this is

03:52 your chance to you know keep her legacy alive so it was that was a turning point where we thought

03:58 like we really want to get on like do the foundation and make a difference for little girls

04:02 like Madison as they move up through the women's game that was it was lovely to be able to put

04:08 like a face to the foundation if you like and that was our inspiration wasn't it?