Red Shoe Day returns
Get your wallets ready. Red Shoe Day has returned.
For the first time in two years, the Valley’s intersections will be overrun from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. with redand-yellow-clad community volunteers hoping to persuade drivers to fill up a red rubber clown shoe with cash and coin on behalf of Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego.
Red Shoe Day was first held in Imperial County in 2011. It consists not only of the street corner collections, but also private donations, corporate sponsorships and collections in school dropoff lanes.
Proceeds benefit Ronald McDonald House. The facility offers families with a child hospitalized for serious illness or injury a chance at a bit of normalcy while the child is being treated. They get a place to stay as a family at little or no cost. This includes private bedrooms, playrooms for the kids and home-cooked meals.
Imperial Valley accounts for about 25 percent of the families who avail themselves of the Ronald McDonald House every year.
Although there was no Red Shoe Day in 2020, Allegra Sonza, major gifts coordinator for Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego, said the charity received sufficient support from elsewhere to compensate.
Sonza said she expects about 300 volunteers to participate in the street corner collections today and raise about $30,000. She expects to the campaign to raise about $90,000 in all, including a $5,000 donation from El Centro Regional Medical Center.
There are also several ways to contribute virtually to Red Shoe Day this year. Donations may also be made virtually texting REDSHOE to 243 725, via Venmo at RMHC-SD-DONATIONS and online at https://p2p.onecause.com/rsdiv2021