Running to get school shoes for children

TO HELP ensure all children have shoes, the Run4schools foundation in Mitchell’s Plain is attempting to raise R100 000 to buy them.

The foundation‘s general manager and running enthusiast, Frank Steyn, will be running the Two Oceans Marathon in school shoes to raise money for the cause.

He said the initiative, which started in February last year, was as a result of children telling him they couldn’t go to school because they had broken shoes.

“There was a group of young boys who came and asked me for a ball to play and I said I couldn’t give it to them because school had just started.

“One of the boys came to me and told me he was not going to school because his parents did not have money to buy him school shoes, as his were broken.

“That was when the idea of raising funds for these youngsters came about,” he said.

Steyn said last year he raised R66 000.

This year the foundation was aiming to raise R100 000 to reach more schools.

“We are currently still distributing school shoes around the Cape Flats to children in need. The initiative started purely as doing a run and to raise awareness for so many children who do not have good school shoes or proper school clothing to go to school in. Not having shoes or school clothes can also influence children not to go to school.

“My main thing is to be an inspiration to the children on the Cape Flats,” he said.

Advocate Margo Adonis, who works with the foundation, said quality education is linked to the wellbeing of children.

“These campaigns allow us to not only show kindness but also to start a conversation in our communities about the Sustainable Development Goals, which is still not fully understood by society.”

The foundation has appealed to anyone who would be interested in making a donation to contact them via email on fsteyn87@gmail.com