YMCA calls for more sponsors to boost school shoes drive

After donating 4,500 pairs of school shoes to pupils around Nelson Mandela Bay throughout the lockdown, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) realised they had nothing to put their new shiny shoes in, prompting the organisation to donate hundreds of school bags.

In an effort to continue the spirit of ubuntu in the Friendly City and its surrounds, Gqeberha’s YMCA chief executive, Lerato Lebopo, has asked for donations to restore dignity to some of the metro’s most impoverished pupils.

The YMCA is a youth organisation aimed at empowering young people predominantly through leadership and skills development programmes.

However, Lebopo said the idea to donate school shoes followed the initial hard  lockdown in 2020.

“I thought how the lockdown would affect children the most, as the impact of Covid-19 on factories and organisations led to some corporates needing to close down. 

“In 2020, we started fundraising and made our first donation [of school shoes] to 22 underprivileged schools.

“We never realised how big  an impact the project would have on us as a team,” Lebopo said.

She said the first two days were emotional as they were exposed to severe levels of poverty in the Bay.

“Seeing a seven-year-old child without shoes, other shoes had holes in them, while others wore shoes they [only] wore on the weekend.

“I told one pupil to put the shoebox in their bag and they said they do not have a school bag — it broke my heart, so in the second shoe distribution in August we distributed 600 bags as well.

“In total, we donated 4,500 pairs of school shoes to schools in Motherwell, KwaDwesi, New Brighton, Izinyoka, Missionvale  and Walmer, as well as farm schools and in Addo,” Lebopo said.

She thanked their sponsors including Tavcor Volkswagen William Moffett, Bata SA, The Little Slipper Company and the YMCA in the US. 

HeraldLIVE