On 22nd July, 2010 Kevin Milstein experienced a moment in time that no parent ever wants to go through nor deserves to. The loss of his 14-year-old son Reagan.

Reagan was a popular, healthy kid who loved sport and particularly football (soccer) and had a heart dedicated to making the world a better place with desires of coaching and building a career as a sports journalist however tragically, Reagan never got the chance to realise his dreams after a scuba diving accident.

Losing Reagan left an enormous hole in the Milstein family and his father, Kevin was not going to let his son’s impact on the world go unnoticed.

Source: About Reagan | Reagan Milstein Foundation (rmf.world)

It’s truly inspirational to see what Kevin did next. In his own words…

Could it get any worse than losing your son?

Yes, it could, as terrible a blow to your life that losing your son is, you could lose more members of your family, of course. Thankfully that was not the situation in my case, but after losing my boy, Reagan, I did think of something much worse.

Losing him and forgetting him.

How could a parent do that? Without a doubt a parent wouldn’t but the child’s friends, social circle, casual acquaintances and so on could. Not to mention the countless people that Reagan would have met in the years following his first 14 when he was taken from us.

In the days after that family tragedy the only thing I could think of is, what does Reagan want me to do?

I knew that he loved football and loved to help people, so surely I could combine the two and let his name live on. At the very least.

With the help of family, friends and Football Victoria that is exactly what we did. We set up the Reagan Milstein Foundation (RMF) to help provide smiles around the world through football.

Now RMF and Reagan’s name are known in over 30 countries around the world by providing unused and preloved football boots, uniforms and equipment to less fortunate football communities.

We have even gone as far as setting up local football tournaments, overseas tournaments and getting children from Pacific Island communities to the 2018 Russia World Cup to play in a pre-WC tournament.

All of this was done with RMF determination and the generosity of the Australian football community. All the boots, uniforms and equipment come from local clubs, individuals and companies from all over Australia.

There are so many people that RMF has helped that you would think that we couldn’t do any more, but you would be wrong. There is so much more that can be done to help football communities globally and locally and that is where you come in.

Gather up your old and unused boots, uniforms and equipment and send them to us. If you cant do that then donate tax deductible funds to us to help keep the smiles travelling around the world.

Whatever you choose to do to help RMF it will be appreciated.

But whatever you do, do NOT forget Reagan and RMF. We plan to be here for a long time to come and help so many more people.”

Kevin Milstein


Become a #RMFstars and donate boots, uniforms, balls and other gear to an outstanding cause.

REAGAN MILSTEIN FOUNDATION

Kevin Milstein, CEO, Reagan Milstein Foundation [email protected]