Kick off for kids shoe donation campaign

OLD school shoes, trainers, football boots and even wellies will be given a new lease of life by a York business that wants to help families struggling to buy new footwear for their children - and it needs your support with donations.

Twenty Two Kicks, which specialises in cleaning and restoring people’s favourite trainers to ‘box fresh’ condition, is appealing to the public to dig out any children’s footwear and drop them off at designated points across the city so they can be spruced up and passed on for free to families in need.

Krissy Wainwright, who runs Twenty Two Kicks, is spearheading the shoe donation campaign to support families who may be worried about having to buy new footwear for their children at a time when the cost-of-living crisis continues to squeeze household incomes.

She said: “A project like this is really important not only to be able to give back to the community but there are very few op>ons for families to buy second-hand school shoes and trainers where they are able to try them on rather than being online only, let alone any free options.”

“We will accept any and all types of footwear, that includes football boots, wellies, trainers and pumps, and we will accept all sizes from junior to adult because last year we had some teens with size ten feet so there is a need for bigger sizes.”

“We had a tremendous response last year with more than 100 pairs donated and we certainly hope to at least match those numbers this year. We need as many people as possible to help us spread the word to ensure we help as many families as we can.” 

The project is now in its second year, following a successful launch last summer when 92 pairs of shoes from the 110 donated were able to be cleaned up and given away to youngsters who needed them.

Krissy, 34, who lives in Elvington, said:  “Seeing so many children with a smile on their face after leaving our pop up event last year made all the hard work worth it.  This year, if we are able to help just one child, we will be very happy. Any shoes that are left over from the events this year will be donated to Shoe Aid where they will be sent to those in need.’’

“It’s only the second ti me we’ve done this so we will continue to build connections within the community and we hope that our event this year will encourage more people to donate in 2025 when we do it again.”

Donations for this year can be made from July 19 through to August 14 at locations across York. Krissy already has the backing of venues including Spark: York, on Piccadilly, and Pocklington Arts Centre, which have agreed to be designated drop-off points for any donations. 

All footwear donated will be cleaned up and given away for free but any shoes donated with holes in the soles or heels will not be able to be repaired or restored.  This year, school bag donations are also being accepted due to requests made from families last year. These will also be cleaned and given away at the pop up events. They can be dropped off in the donation bins along with any footwear. 

Once all the donations have been collected and cleaned up, there will be two pop-up events held in the city centre where families can choose their good-as-new kicks. These will take place on Monday August 19 at Holy Trinity Church on Goodramgate, from 11am - 4pm, and on Tuesday August 20 at Spark: York, from 12pm - 5pm. 

For more information about how you can support the project, visit: 

Website - www.twentytwokicks.com

Instagram - @twenty_two_kicks

Facebook - hbps://www.facebook.com/twentytwokicksyork