Hundreds of Tipperary school pupils are donating pre-loved shoes to township children

From April 17-28, school pupils from across Tipperary are taking part in a national campaign to collect tens of thousands of gently-worn shoes from all over Ireland and send them to underprivileged children in Southern African townships. 

Some of the Tipperary National Schools who are already registered to take part in the campaign so far include Gaelscoil Aonach Urmhumhan, St Conlan's Road, Nenagh; SN Buirgheas, Tipperary and Scoil Angela, Ursuline Convent, Thurles.

Parents nationwide are being sent up into attics and under the stairs to dig out pairs of sports shoes that are still in good condition, but which have been outgrown by their owners in Ireland.

Meet and Greet collection campaigns are also being organised by some League of Ireland soccer clubs, where fans can donate shoes to a team player over a designated afternoon.

The campaign is being run by In My Shoes, who, in the pre-Covid world, worked with schools and families across Ireland to collect 15,000 pairs of used sports shoes and send them to school children in South Africa and Lesotho.

This year they have greatly expanded the campaign to ship thousands more pairs of shoes to help underprivileged children.

Shoes are more than just foot protection in an African township; they can be the difference between a hopeful or bleak future.

Helping to improve regular school attendance and completion, where a walk to school can be miles, they give learners safety, improve self-esteem and open doors to after-school sporting activities.

When the shoes are collected, they will be brought to a pop-up sorting facility in Sligo designed to check, sort and pack up to 15,000 pairs of shoes a day. 

The sorting blitz will run for two weeks and will be staffed by teams of volunteers with diverse backgrounds, from Transition Year student, to corporate teams, and even a team made up from the new Ukrainian community in Sligo.

To get involved with the 2023 In My Shoes campaign visit inmyshoescharity.org.

The campaign runs until April 28, and schools are encouraged to register via the website from today.