DETROIT – The power of a new pair of shoes. We discovered that when we teamed up with Lace Up Detroit to help them Go 4 It -- raising tens of thousands of dollars to put shoes on schoolchildren across Metro Detroit.
With school back in session, the nonprofit is hard at work raising money to ensure that more kids experience the joy of slipping on a new pair of shoes.
Brittany Huckleby, an instructional coach at Legacy Charter Academy, explains her role: “I teach teachers how to be better teachers, so help them with their teaching practices, but also I do a little bit of teaching students as well.”
She describes the school community as a family.
“They know that they have an adult that cares about them, and that’s usually what a family is,” Huckleby said. “Sometimes people don’t have that in their family, but they know when they come here, that it’s going to be an adult that cares about them.”
Huckleby shares some of the serious challenges students face.
“Our students face everything from you know, parents being incarcerated, trauma events, watching shootings happen, people in their lives dying, to not having enough food at home, water, even just a safe way to get from point A to point B,” Huckleby said. “So they deal with a lot of things.”
Despite these hardships, Huckleby wants students to know the school cares.
“That’s typically what we provide for our kids is trying to get them to understand, like, hey, it’s not just it’s not all bad,” Huckleby said. “You might just need something to eat, or you might just need a hug, or you might need a breather before you begin your day. And that’s okay, because the same thing happens for adults.”
“It’s fun. It can be wild, but it’s fun,” said Megan Weigle, the kindergarten and first-grade dean at Legacy. “Some of our kids come in with no school experience, so when they’re coming to kindergarten, it can be hard because we’re teaching the foundation, but we’re also teaching a lot of behavior. We’re teaching expectations, we’re teaching how to be in school all day long with no naps. So it can be hard.”
This year, Legacy Charter Academy in Detroit is partnering with Lace Up Detroit, a nonprofit dedicated to providing new shoes to underserved children and women across Metro Detroit.
In 2024, Local 4 teamed up with Lace Up Detroit for a Go 4 It event, raising $90,000 to provide shoes and boots for students at schools and shelters across Metro Detroit.
Now, the nonprofit is raising money to help more students, including those at Legacy Charter Academy.
“Just having a new pair of shoes makes all the difference. We have kids in the wintertime that have to just wear their gym shoes in the snow, if the streets are not plowed, then their feet are getting wet,” Huckleby said. “We have kids that don’t wear socks, and we provide the socks. So this is a big deal because it’s one more thing that can make their day. It’s one more thing that they don’t have to worry about.”
Weigle notes the children’s excitement about new shoes. “I know the kids are going to be so excited. They love shoes.”
Lace Up Detroit is currently collecting donations to continue its work this school year. A $25 donation provides one pair of new shoes for a child.
You can donate here. All funds raised will go toward new shoes and boots for kids in the Metro Detroit area.