Leeds United join forces with Kiyan Prince Foundation ahead of QPR clash to raise knife crime awareness

Leeds United Foundation have joined up with the Kiyan Prince Foundation in delivering a ‘Positive Choices’ session at Corpus Christi College in Leeds this week. The Whites are doing their bit to tackle knife crime and raise awareness.

The ‘Positive Changes’ sessions aim to guide students away from crime and to hopefully make better choices. Ahead of Leeds United’s clash against QPR this weekend, Dr. Mark Prince OBE was invited to the school to deliver a talk on knife crime after tragically losing son, Kiyan, at the age of 15 back in 2006.

Kiyan was in the QPR academy at the time of his murder and his father founded the charity in his name. Speaking after the event this week, he told LUTV: “I’ve come to share that powerful message and to let children know that hurting people, hurts people.

“That’s how all of this knife crime really begins, because people are hurting so they resort to taking up knives as a way of dealing with some of the conflicts that are going on in their mind. And then that ends up hurting other people. So I want them to focus on understanding and valuing their life, making the right choices.

“Different football clubs might be rivals when it comes to winning a game, but when it comes to achieving the goal of no knives on the streets and less violence on our streets, then everyone’s united. That’s like one football team and there isn’t anyone against each other in that concept. So I think this is a wonderful platform to use to bring a powerful message together.”

Frances Milner, CEO of the Leeds United Foundation, said: “The Leeds United Foundation were delighted to be partnering with the Kiyan Prince Foundation at Corpus Christi College today and we’ve heard an incredibly powerful talk by Dr. Mark Prince, Kiyan’s father. It’s been a really thought-provoking morning, Mark’s talk brought to life the messages of the Leeds United Foundations Positive Choices Programme. This is a programme that we run with schools across the region and seeks to inform, educate and empower students to make positive life decisions, when they're facing toug choices in their lives.”

Meanwhile, Amy Thompson, the Director of Personal Development at Corpus Christi, added: “We’ve been really blessed because we had Mark sharing his life story with our children and also telling us about the loss of his son. It was a very, very moving input, the children were so inspired by him and they were really engaged in his session.

“He talked about how the choices they make are going to impact on their futures and that they can be who they want to be. Our students have been coming up to me all day, and will now for the next few weeks, talking to me about ‘the seed’ and how they’re growing, because they are really inspired.

“We’ve been working with ‘Positive Choices’ and the Leeds United Foundation for about four years now, they’ve got a selection of speakers like Mark that come in and share their stories to make a difference to impact positively with our children. So we’d like to say a huge thank you to the team.”