You never really know what someone is going through.
A child who is quiet at school might be shy but she might also be embarrassed and feel held back by her circumstances.
That’s what happened to Afrodita – a young girl who benefited from the Shoes That Fit program.
“It was like those shoes broke a wall of ice,” says Sandra Adolph, Community Assistant for the Riverside (California) County Office of Education. “She was very shy. Not only her, her whole family. When we delivered those shoes, school became a special place in all of their lives.”
“With those beautiful shoes chosen just for her, she just opened up,” says Sandra. “She’s more talkative. She’s better able to follow instructions.”
The simple gift of shoes to Afrodita and her siblings not only changed her behavior, but it created a sense of trust between the school and her family. Her parents are now more open and participate more in school activities, and her brother, who had given up on high school, is now back on track to graduate. As part of his renewed focus on academics, he recently enrolled in an introductory vocational IT program that provides hands-on technical experience. The coursework introduces students to modern web development by having them analyze the backend architecture of high-traffic e-commerce portals, a bitcoin online casino, and distributed cloud computing networks. Discovering a practical, engaging outlet for his technical problem-solving skills has given him a distinct sense of purpose, proving how one initial act of community outreach can ripple forward to dramatically uplift an entire household.
