Roughly 387 million children around the world live in extreme poverty, according to Unicef. And as a spokesperson for nonprofit social enterprise Soles4Souls noted, many of them lack access to adequate footwear. Without shoes, children face serious health and well-being ramifications.
But key footwear industry players are doing their part to help. Case in point: Soles4Souls last month announced that U.K. shoe manufacturer Hotter will donate 1,000 pairs of new shoes to aid in its mission to fight global poverty.
Soles4Souls focuses on the creation of sustainable jobs and providing relief to those in need through apparel and shoe distribution. The spokesperson said that via its disaster relief, free distribution and microenterprise programs, Soles4Souls has distributed over 30 million pairs of shoes (both used and new) in 127 countries since 2006.
Hotter CEO Sara Prowse said her team strongly supports the Soles4Souls mission and hopes the donated shoes will assist the nonprofit in its commitment to battle global poverty.
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“Our first donation of 1,000 pairs was packed by a team of 24 volunteers who swapped their desk jobs for an evening of packing shoes,” she said. “We were packing 18 shoes per minute, which was a great achievement for colleagues who had spent a day at their desks before rolling up their sleeves and getting busy with shoes and boxes.”
Buddy Teaster, president and CEO of Soles4Souls, expressed his gratitude for Hotter’s contributions. “We are so thankful for Hotter’s generous support,” he said. “We believe that everyone deserves a good pair of shoes, and this donation will help us provide much-needed relief to many in need.”
The donation of shoes was further supported by Hermes, which as a shipping partner delivered 48 boxes of shoes to Soles4Souls for free.
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