What is Shoes That Fit?
Who would have thought that a random act of kindness could change the world?
In 1992, Elodie Silva McGuirk learned about a local student who was too embarrassed to attend school because his only shoes were a too-small pair of pink tennis shoes that his sister had outgrown. Ms. McQuirk asked her coworkers to pitch in to buy him new shoes, and to her surprise, they raised enough money to purchase shoes for several children. It was then that they understood the importance of shoes that fit– when this basic need is met, school attendance, physical activity, and self-esteem increases–and the non-profit organization Shoes That Fit was born. Since then, Shoes That Fit has provided more than two million pairs of new athletic shoes to more than 120,000 schoolchildren across the United States.