One Thousand Pair of Shoes from Kick Andy Foundation

A few months ago, we received news from Kick Andy Foundation that they were going to donate 1.000 shoes to the kids at Taman Bacaan Pelangi. Hearing this news, our team started to collect data of the kids’ sizes at Taman Bacaan Pelangi spots in East Nusa Tenggara, because the ones who live in very remote villages went to school with sandals, or even barefoot.

Kids at Rainbow Reading Gardens smile happily to receive shoes from Kick Andy Foundation

And finally… those 1,000 shoes had arrived! A total of 29 big boxes were shipped from Jakarta to Labuan Bajo, Flores. Maxi, our coordinator in Labuan Bajo, was surprised to see those huge boxes – full of shoes. Our storage room, usually filled with boxes of books, now suddenly full with boxes of shoes!

The first drop was to Roe Village. There were 144 shoes for the kids in this village. That day, our volunteers who managed our library, contacted the school and asked them to inform the kids to come to Taman Bacaan Pelangi. Soon after the school was finished, the kids were rushing to Taman Bacaan Pelangi. They had no idea what was waiting for them. When they saw the boxes, they thought they were boxes of books.

Helping to open the boxes full of shoes!

“Do you have any idea what’s inside these boxes?”, I asked.

“Nope. Maybe books?”, some of them replied.

“Nooo… inside these boxes are shoes for all of you!”, I said with excitement.

“YES!!!”, said the kids, making the gesture with their fist on their shoulder with big smile on their faces.

They helped the team opening the boxes and after that, it was chaos. They couldn’t wait to try those shoes on! Oh, so much fun!

And not only they got new shoes, apparently Kick Andy Foundation also gave each of them a pair of socks, too! Whoa.. They’re double happy!

It was hard to describe the excitement and happiness that were floating in the air that day. Every kid looked so happy, holding their new shoes & socks tightly, and showing them off to their friends who also received the same type of shoes. So cute.

Thank you so much, Kick Andy Foundation, for the 1,000 pair of shoes donation & 1,000 pair of socks, too. Now, these kids could go to school with shoes and they even could wear it for sports day! Thank you!!!