Former Aston Villa defender is keen to help Birmingham City's Carlos Costly
Mar 10 2009 By Andy Walker
By pumping in between 10 to 15 per cent of his wages, De la Cruz has helped to dramatically transform one of Ecuador’s poorest regions and ultimately give the children of the area brighter futures.
De la Cruz, who has won 98 caps for Ecuador and played in both the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, organised successful fund-raising events during his two-year stint at the Madejski Stadium.
And he is now aiming to get Bluenoses to dig deep for Fundecruz, which has a base in Sutton Coldfield, as well as his team-mates and his current gaffer. “I need to start putting the website address around the place at Birmingham because when I was at Reading before the people around the club liked to help,” added De la Cruz, who believes he is capable of playing on for at least another two seasons.
“At Reading they, including the manager, sent a cheque for me to help the children. I try to get donations from the players and the fans, this is a new club and a new opportunity.
“Not everyone will help but I will try. Sometimes people want to go to out Ecuador or just look on the internet to see the example the charity has set for the kids in the future.
“When I go back to the village everyone is impressed because I don’t know how many people in this life have done the same as me.
“Ten years ago there was problems with the village, now over the last six or seven years a lot of things have improved, things are now looking better in Piquiucho.”
