KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – This is the season of giving, and one Kalamazoo nonprofit is all about giving. The First Day Shoe Fund has grown in the last 20 years from giving just a few pairs of shoes to indigent children to thousands in 47 schools countywide.
Executive director Maggie Hesketh says they were able to fit 11,000 shoes this year, 37% more than last year and double what they were able to do two years ago.
She says children’s shoes are expensive at $50 to $70 a pair but she can get them wholesale for just a fraction of that.
Hesketh says it was all begun by Valerie Denghel, a parent volunteer, who saw the raggedy shoes some kids were wearing and the impact it had and began collecting shoes for them.
The organization has handed out over 67,000 shoes since their founding.
Excellent Program