Sneakers With Soul®

I volunteer at a Drop in Center that serves youth who struggle with homelessness. This Drop in Center provides many resources and opportunities for these teens and young adults. Besides daytime shelter, food and services, used clothing is available for them there, too. However, there are no shoes, and we all know how fast teens grow and how hard they are on shoes! The founder of Sneaker with Soul, Maurice Parisien, saw the need and initiated a "shoe store" for the youth right at this center. Brand-new, quality shoes are sorted by size and stored right at the center. On designated days, the youth can make an appointment to visit the center's "shoe store" room and select a pair of sneakers.
I have seen the delight on the faces of these youth as they try on and select a pair of new name-brand shoes. And, of course, shoes have to have socks, so they also get some new socks! Not only are they receiving shoes, but they are being dignified by having the opportunity to select their preference of quality sneakers.
This nonprofit already provides many shoes to schools,etc, but it continues to seek additional agencies and other social services where they can partner to provide shoes for children and teens.
The name of this nonprofit "Sneakers with Soul" is so appropriate!

Sneakers with Soul provides essential sneakers to children at the beginning of the school year. My family and I have supported and volunteered since Sneakers with Soul began. Each year when we volunteer to assist with sneaker distribution, the recipients are very appreciative when they receive a new pair of sneakers. I have witnessed the adults of these children cry and tell me that they were very thankful for the new shoes because they are not able to pay for them. One adult told me that she would have had to make the difficult decision of either buying food for their family or buying her child a new pair of shoes.

When volunteering, there were so many times when the child or the grown up first guessed on the child's shoe size. Nine times out of ten the guessed size was wrong! The volunteers carefully measure the child's foot to provide them the size of shoe that will best fit them which is so important to their physical health! Children grow so quickly and proper fitting shoes help alleviate long term health issues.

Sneakers with Soul is an amazing non-profit service to our community and is essential in helping children start their new school year successfully! The best part of supporting this organization is witnessing the children's proud smiles as they walk confidently in their new shoes...it's priceless and speaks volumes!

I have fond memories when I was a child of going and getting my shoes to start the school year. Sneakers With Soul has created this model on a larger scale to give needy students that same feeling. It’s done with love and with care and in a way that gets students excited!

Sneakers with Soul has provided NAME BRAND shoes for us to give for FREE to low-income children who attend our 2020 Heath and Education Back to School Fair. Maurice is very organized and helpful. He has great repertoire with the shoe manufacturers and expertise on how to organize a shoe distribution. This has been an easy process.

Sneakers With Soul started out as a thinking out of the box way to help underprivileged students as they returned to school. People went to sporting good stores, shoe stores and purchased shoes of various styles and sizes. Fast forward to today and the manner in which Sneakers With Soul has grown yet keeping the mission first and foremost is amazing. The great work Moe and his team continues to do for the children of St. Louis is wonderful. We are honored to support the work of this charity and I am proud that my company matched my donation this year!

I know that children love to get new shoes by the first day of school (that was even true way back when I was a child), but for those this charity services, new shoes are a necessity for the growing children, and it is a financial burden for the families...if not impossible. I help collect during the drive at church and I am always heartened by the joy people seem to have in the giving. The activity is beneficial on both ends...giving and receiving.

Do you remember PF Flyers? When I was a little girl, about five years old or so, I remember getting a bright red pair of these superstar sneakers. PF Flyers were the gold star of tennis shoes in my time. Their slogan was that they could make you “run faster and jump higher” than all other shoes for kids. I LOVED them, and could not wait to go outside to run around the yard, faster than a speeding bullet. Right up there with Superman (or Supergirl in my case, because, you know, girls weren’t exactly encouraged to do that in my younger years). I was lucky and so proud. Sneakers with Soul does exactly that. They help parents give this joy to their kids. Parents who otherwise would find it difficult to get their kids a new pair of shoes for school. And who wouldn’t want THEIR KID to run faster and jump higher, not just in shoes, but in life. Sometime the “little things” to us are GREAT BIG THINGS to others. It’s not just about shoes. It’s about someone else caring about YOU. We are so happy to continue to support Sneakers with Soul each year. We hope you will, too.

What an amazing organization. Providing children in underserved areas with brand new school shoes is such a wonderful way to help them get off to a good start.