A pair of educators in Dallas, Texas, are helping to build confidence in less fortunate students with their non-profit that provides stylish new sneakers. Having himself graduated from Justin F. Kimball High School outside Dallas, teacher Jesse Acosta knows how important sneaker culture is to the students there. He’s seen first hand how students who can’t afford new shoes are often bullied. And knowing that bullying leads to lowered grades, attendance, and self-esteem, he wanted to do something to help.
So when schools closed in the spring of 2020 over COVID concerns, Acosta and his girlfriend, math tutor and self-described “sneaker nerd” Alejandra Zendejas, co-founded a non-profit to give away shoes to students. Acosta used social media and his contacts in the school system to find students who were struggling financially. The pair started off buying the shoes with their own money, but eventually had donor money to fund their operation. Since August of 2020, they’ve given away more than 1-thousand pairs of shoes to students in the Dallas area and a grant from Amazon is allowing them to expand their efforts to neighboring cities.
Acosta knows their method isn’t traditional, but feels they’re making a difference in their community. “We're just doing things and approaching the inequity gap a little differently from other nonprofits,” he says. “We’re borrowing from and being influenced by the community that we live in, especially since we both love shoes. It's worked out so far and we're definitely blessed for that.”
Source: Good Morning America