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Kids got soles
By Emily Hill, ehill@starlocalnews.com
Imagine a world where owning a pair of shoes can hold back a child from getting an education at school. Recently, students at Brent Elementary decided to imagine such a world and put their own foot in the door to help those in need of shoes.
Two years ago, several students in Brent Elementary teacher Jenice Murray's class suggested they start a shoe drive to collect gently used and new shoes for people in need. Last year, the students only collected 12 pairs of shoes. Inspired by One Day Without Shoes, the students collected over 150 pairs of shoes.
One Day Without Shoes is an event sponsored by TOMS Shoes to bring more awareness to children who are at risk of disease, infection and injury by going without shoes. The students took it a further step and focused on children who cannot attend school without a pair of shoes in those countries.
"I tried to get them curious a little while before (the event) and once they found out about what it was, they were [interested]," Murray said.
Instead of letting students walk an entire day without shoes and to ensure their safety, teachers built a path near the playground that was covered with mulch, rocks and sandpaper. Students were then allowed to walk barefoot across the path to experience what children in some countries must walk on every day.
Murray spoke of one student who asked her if his shoes, even though they were Adidas, would still help someone.
"That's what really brings tears to your eyes," Murray said.
The donated shoes will go to the organization's thrift stores connected to the Arc, an organization for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and ARK (Animal Rescue Klub). A variety of shoes were collected this year from fancy boots down to flip flops. Murray hopes the event will spread to other schools next year.
"I think we might be able to get it to take a bigger hold," Murray said. "I think at the elementary level we can spread."
Murray believes appreciation and awareness were what the students got out of the event the most. Even the younger students were able to catch on to the idea when one student, who had gotten a cut on the leg, related it back to the One Day Without Shoes.
"[They said] 'kind of like what could happen to your feet if you didn't have shoes when you walk to school,'" Murray said. "It kind of blew me away."
Murray said the students learned to appreciate where they are in life and wanted to help and learn more about the cause, especially when they realized they couldn't go to school in some places without shoes. She had to keep researching because the students wanted to learn more about it.
"They've already asked me, 'when are we doing it next year?'" Murray said. "I think they're excited. I've always been interested in kids doing service-learning. We're not just teaching them academic, but we're teaching them how to be better people when they grown up."
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