Brighten Your Day

New Shoes for Back to School has donated 21,000 pairs of shoes to families in need

September 4, 2012

New Shoes for Back to School, a program in Richmond, Virginia, has donated nearly 21,000 pairs of brand new shoes to kids getting ready for their first day of school.

The program is in its sixth year now funded by the donations from local businesses and churches. The main goal is to help families in need have the opportunity to excite their children for the upcoming school year with a brand new pair of sneakers.

Everyone can remember and relate to how excited they were for that first day of school and showing off a brand new pair of shoes makes the experience even better. This generous program makes sure that every student, regardless of their parents income, has an opportunity to share that experience.

Hundreds of volunteers help to hand out the shoes each and every year. This year alone over 3,000 brand new shoes were handed out. The parking lots filled up with families excited to shop for new shoes.

"There were people here sleeping at 8:00 last night," said Dorryce Rudd, Associate Pastor at Branch's Baptist Church.  "We've had the parking lot so full, we've had to send them to the next church to park."

There are shoes for every style and taste. Whether they are looking for a particular color or design, or even a pair of boots or dress shoes. The volunteers are there to help them find what they are looking for.

One of the program's volunteers, Valencia Malone-Bagwell, hit the nail right on the head when interviewed by the local news station.

"That's what we should be striving to do every single day... be a blessing to someone else."