Help the kids!

[ialsohaveadream]

I figure I'll post this here since there's no "Charity" forum, and OT seems to be the best-read...

I'm going to be coaching a track club for kids in a neighborhood I work in. The thing is, the kids come from dirt-poor families. They're doing the track club because I'm offering it for free to them. Unfortunately, most of them have pretty terrible shoes, and if they don't get a nice pair, they're going to kill their legs.

Basically I'm wondering if anyone here can help in any of the following ways:

1) You are someone/know someone who works for a shoe company or shoe retailer, and there's a possibility of a donation or dirt cheap sale.

2) You can find me an amazing deal on running shoes. There's 10 kids in the club, so if I'm gonna spring for their shoes, I can't spend more than $20 a pair.

3) You know of a group that can provide a small grant to get these kids some shoes, particularly in south FL. Believe me, they're an appreciative group.

4) You have a great idea on another solution not listed above.

Thanks for any help!

[oblongmelon]

I know for a fact that champs (champion sports) has out of season sneakers for VERY VERY LOW PRICES..THESE ARE NAME BRANDS..some are priced at 10 dollars or slightly higher...(cheerleading shoes)..but..if you go to TRACK AND FIELD-and go all the way to the LAST PAGE OF THE TRACK AND FIELD SHOES-there are some there for 19.99...THE OLDER models are always in the last pages and are always the cheapest of all their shoes..here is a link.
www.champssports.com even some of the mens styles are at 29.99

[oblongmelon]

I figure I'll post this here since there's no "Charity" forum, and OT seems to be the best-read...

I'm going to be coaching a track club for kids in a neighborhood I work in. The thing is, the kids come from dirt-poor families. They're doing the track club because I'm offering it for free to them. Unfortunately, most of them have pretty terrible shoes, and if they don't get a nice pair, they're going to kill their legs.

Basically I'm wondering if anyone here can help in any of the following ways:

1) You are someone/know someone who works for a shoe company or shoe retailer, and there's a possibility of a donation or dirt cheap sale.

2) You can find me an amazing deal on running shoes. There's 10 kids in the club, so if I'm gonna spring for their shoes, I can't spend more than $20 a pair.

3) You know of a group that can provide a small grant to get these kids some shoes, particularly in south FL. Believe me, they're an appreciative group.

4) You have a great idea on another solution not listed above.

Thanks for any help!

ps..I know from experience that providing for these kids will start costing you big bucks...it's great that you are doing this for the kids but remember-even though the parents are poor, they should have to kick in something towards the shoes..even if it means that the PARENTS put on a car wash with the kids to help pay for them. Don't always be the good guy-you'll end up getting screwed in the end. There is no reason why you shouldnt be able to do a fundraiser and let the kids be proud that they earned the shoes on their own. suggestion: car washes. 5 dollars a car. 50/50 tickets at a littleleague game...bakesales. how many kids are on the team and how many need shoes?

[ray]

how many kids are on the team and how many need shoes?

I think he said 10 kids.

My suggestion is to visit the local sporting goods stores to see if they will sponsor you or donate the shoes to you. You may be surprised with the results. Better yet, if there is a local mom and pop's sporting goods store, I would definitely start there since they wouldn't have to go through all the red tape that larger chains would have to go through to do this sort of thing.

[ialsohaveadream]

D'oh. I hadn't even thought of a car wash. Of course, I was figuring on even cheap shoes costing $40. If I can get them for $20 a pair, that's faaaaaan-tastic! Thanks.

And my plan was never to provide for them...but if I absolutely had to make a contribution to make it happen, I would.

EDIT: Wow! Champs even has some Nike track spikes for $10! I figured spikes would be out of the realm of possibility.

And I've been looking for mom and pop shoe stores, but most of those sell women's shoes, not athletic shoes. Still, I haven't given up.

[ShawnLee]

Good luck dude. I did a quick search online but nothing good. Like Ray said, see if you can hit up the local sporting goods stores.

I'm thinking about the same thing actually. One of my church kids is a good runner, but has terrible shoes. I'm not going to buy a pair for him, but if I could find him a cheap decent pair... We'll see.

[kei2]

$10 for spikes is awesome. Jump on that. When I did high school track, my first pair of spikes ran me about $35 (and they were hideous!). One year later I saw the same shoes (well, one model older and one size bigger but the same shoe) on clearance for $10 and bought them again. That's really cool/admirable of you to buy your kids the shoes. If for that reason alone (a caring and generous coach), I bet they're more dedicated than at least 95% of my high school track team was.

[oblongmelon]

D'oh. I hadn't even thought of a car wash. Of course, I was figuring on even cheap shoes costing $40. If I can get them for $20 a pair, that's faaaaaan-tastic! Thanks.

And my plan was never to provide for them...but if I absolutely had to make a contribution to make it happen, I would.

EDIT: Wow! Champs even has some Nike track spikes for $10! I figured spikes would be out of the realm of possibility.

And I've been looking for mom and pop shoe stores, but most of those sell women's shoes, not athletic shoes. Still, I haven't given up.

I found Champs bigtime discounts when some of my cheerleaders needed new sneakers and couldn't afford them....I almost thought of paying full price for them for the kids until I found out that the parents always had money for cigs and beer and the movies-that's when I sent a note home that the kids would be going for the cheaper shoes and that they had to be at the mandatory spaghetti dinner (parents too-they had to cook, the kids had to serve and clean up) to raise money for them. I also noted that if the kids did not have the shoes they could not be cheering at competition because you have to wear regulation bottomed shoes for those...I figured that would get the kids whining enough to make sure the parents were there...their shoes ended up costing them each 11.25 or something like that-we raised over 600 dollars on the dinner (7 dollars for all you can eat, with salad, bread and desert), the kids got their shoes, PLUS there was money left over to get them new socks, hair ribbon thingies, and a t-shirt.

[Jeffbx]

Why not write to Nike, Adidas, NB, etc. & ask for a donation? Find some contacts in public relations, or just write directly to the prez or board members. Big companies are always giving out stuff to underprivledged kids - it's great PR for them. Also try big chain stores - Sears, Footlocker, etc.

If you live in or near a major city, your best bet is to start with companies that have a strong presence in your area - they're more likely to give to local groups.

[oblongmelon]

whats wrong with giving the kids a sense of self worth and pride by having them help earn the money instead of asking for donations??????.....it's one thing to be so broke you can't buy shoes for your kids-but it's an entirely different story when those kids can say they helped buy them for themselves...THEY WILL BE MORE appreciative if they have to help earn the shoes-PLUS it teaches them some values ie: NOT EVERYTHING IS A HAND OUT OR FREE

[donnar]

whats wrong with giving the kids a sense of self worth and pride by having them help earn the money instead of asking for donations??????.....it's one thing to be so broke you can't buy shoes for your kids-but it's an entirely different story when those kids can say they helped buy them for themselves...THEY WILL BE MORE appreciative if they have to help earn the shoes-PLUS it teaches them some values ie: NOT EVERYTHING IS A HAND OUT OR FREE

I think everyone is just throwing out ideals

[faither]

I have some very gently worn running shoes (Asics, New Balance and Nikes -- Size 10) that I'd be happy to send you if you're interested. Different models I'd bought that I just wasn't happy with. Let me know.

[donnar]

how old are the children? I am always finding great deals I can pick some up if I find any

[Yossarian]

obby, i don't think that anyone is insulting the idea of making their own money, they are just offering other ideas.

i did track, i know how expensive all that **** is. hopefully you have access to pits, standards, hurdles, javs, shots, disc, ect. or are you just setting up a running club? if not, be prepared to hafta raise a couple grand.

[ialsohaveadream]

Yeah, the fundraiser is a great idea, but if the fundraiser doesn't go as well as we hope, it'd be nice to have some kind of discount, etc. I'll be meeting with the kids tomorrow to discuss a fundraiser.

And we have a track we're going to use. They have the "field" part of track&field, but mostly these kids just want to do the runs and the jumps.