A number of parents have contacted me to see if it would be possible to organise a charity event at the end of the school year to support Sal’s Shoes. This is a charity which aims to reuse old children’s shoes and redistribute them to children, mainly in Africa, who go barefoot every day.
In most charity events we are purely asking for a cash donation. This event is different and the charity encourages the donation of children’s shoes and mainly an act of symbolism. In some schools supporting this charity the pupils are asked to trade places with the African pupils and to take off their old shoes at the end of school on the last day in June and to leave the school barefoot themselves.
With the surface of our playgrounds being so stony I don’t think that would be advisable, but I do think it would be a powerful message for our pupils to take off their worn out shoes and to leave them on their desks as they leave the school for the last time, replacing them with a pair of summer shoes or trainers for their journey home.
The charity would ask if possible to connect the shoes together with an elastic band or to tie the laces together before they are left…and to tape a £1 coin to the base of one of the shoes to help cover transport cost…however this is completely at parents’ discretion.
Many parents will be replacing shoes anyway over the summer and this act of charity may enable poorer children in the world to benefit from shoes that are just outgrown and would be disposed of anyway.
We hope you will support our end of term charity event and donate one old pair of shoes to those who don’t have any.
