Furry feet taking steps to make children’s dreams come true

DANVILLE Park Girls’ High School pupils put their best slipper-clad feet forward to support the Reach For a Dream Foundation yesterday.

The Slipper Day initiative was started by Reach for a Dream’s KZN branch in 2011 to support children with life-threatening illnesses and help make their dreams come true, before it became a national event.

Danville Girls’ Interact Club led the way by encouraging fellow pupils and staff to buy stickers for R20, clearing the way for them to spend the day at schools in their slippers.

The teacher in charge of this initiative – celebrated on May 5 every year – and head of Interact Club, Lyn Campbell, said the school had been “supporting it for about seven years now and it was first introduced based on a request from the Reach for a Dream Foundation”.

Campbell said the school aimed to sell at least 500 tickets, which would generate R10 000. Danville Park Interact Club president Rebecka Schoultz said the initiative was an important reminder of all those children who did not have the opportunity to feel like a child, “as slippers are associated with being a child and filled with fun”.

Rebecka, 16, said of her slipper choice: “Usually I am a bit clumsy, so when I walk around with these unicorn slippers, the head hits the stairs and I fall over. However, I think they’re still cool.”

She added that her sister and mother had also bought tickets to support the cause.

“I’m surprised by the reception from the school as I think sometimes people think something like this is too childish.

“A lot of people have embraced the initiative,” said Rebecka.

Reach For A Dream chief executive officer Julia Sotirianakos, said: “Slipper Day is our biggest annual fund-raiser with all funds going towards fulfilling the dreams of children who are facing some of the toughest challenges life can throw at them.

“This year, we’re calling on all South Africans to step up and support Slipper Day, not only to celebrate these brave dreamers but to inspire hope among them, so they know that no matter what obstacles arise, they are never alone in their journey.”

She said they raised more than R8.3 million in 2022 and hoped to reach R10 million this year, which would help at least 2 000 children.

| SHELLEY KJONSTAD Africa News Agency (ANA) DANVILLE Park Girls’ High School pupils, from left, Adithi Ramachul, Shreya Sukdeo, Kira Doolab (Interact Club vice-president), Rebecka Schoultz (Interact president), Caylin-Rae James and Alessa de Boer, show off the slippers they wore to school yesterday in support of Reach for a Dream Foundation’s Slipper Day. The school’s Interact Club encouraged fellow pupils and staff to buy stickers, allowing them to attend school in their slippers, and raising funds to help the foundation make dreams of children facing life-threatening illnesses come true.