WACO, Texas — The Foster Village in Waco organized a shoe drive to give new shoes to foster kids in the area.
The non-profit organization specializes in providing resources for foster care kids and families. They recognize that foster care kids are often pushed aside, so they hold events and raise awareness with the hope that kids can see that they are loved and cared for.
This shoe drive was made with the goal of giving kids a sense of pride as they go back to school soon.
"The first day of school you shouldn't have dirty shoes," Jamie Villarrial, a board member for the Foster Village. "That's a telltale sign that you are different than everyone else. And so they should have dignity and they should be able to walk around the school with dignity and carry themselves in the way that everyone else does with nice shoes like everyone else."
Jamie and her husband Gerald are avid child care supporters and even raise foster children themselves. With five biological children and a sibling group of foster kids, they know very well how foster kids want to be treated like their peers with "nuclear families".
"What people don't understand is kids are kids, whether they're in foster care whether they're in families," Gerald Villarrial said. "Kids want what other kids have and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. We want these kids to have a normal life as normal as possible. And if that has to do with some Jordan's, then that's what we want to do for them."
The shoe drive will last until August 5th, and there are four drop off locations in Waco. Milk Bottle Cookies, Cultivate Twelve, Dunnam & Dunnam Law Firm and Club Pilates.
The Foster Village is asking for gently worn shoes.