SAN ANTONIO – It was a busy Wednesday morning for volunteers and members of the San Antonio Police Department and Zapatos.
Footwear for kids of all sizes were taken to SAPD headquarters to be sorted and taken back to Zapatos storage facility before distribution.
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Sorting day began around 9 a.m., and within a couple of hours more than 2,000 pairs of shoes in community donations were counted. Just before midday, the Spurs delivered 106 pairs of additional shoes bringing today’s total to 2,160 pairs of shoes.
Among the donated footwear were new pairs of socks. Volunteers will be gathering the items and preparing them for kids in need. In 2022, more than 5,700 pairs of socks were collected. Giving a new pair of socks, along with a new pair of shoes, is an addition the nonprofit is dedicated to providing after Zapatos volunteers noticed that many of the children who received new shoes had holes in their socks.
In November, SAPD held a friendly competition between their substations by collecting financial donations from generous community donors during a KSAT Community phone bank. The bragging rights this year go to North substation, but the true winners are the kids who will receive shoes from the money that was collected that night.
SAPD helped Zapatos collect $2,200 but Zapatos continued to receive financial donations even after the phone bank ended. Margie Delatorre said the grand total of money donated to Zapatos is $3,632, which will help to purchase even more shoes for school kids in and around San Antonio.
“Zapatos would like to thank the citizens of San Antonio, SAPD, KSAT and the Spurs for their outpouring of support and love to this year’s Share the Shoes campaign! Zapatos is able to provide shoes for those school children in need because of your generosity,” Delatorre said.
The need for shoes is great and every donation of socks and shoes given by donors fulfills that need. The 2023 campaign for Share the Shoes began on Nov. 1 and ended on Dec. 12, but Zapatos distributes shoes to schools and kids throughout the year. If you’re inspired to give, Zapatos Inc accepts donations of new shoes, new socks and financial contributions year-round. To learn more, visit www.zapatosinc.org.
Zapatos Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2015 by Maria Gloria Martinez. Over 300 students were served in 2016 and 703 in 2017. Zapatos Inc. strives to help society’s less fortunate families by providing new shoes. ‘Shoes are foundational; Shoes are Fundamental’.
KSAT Community operates in partnership with University Health, Energy Transfer and Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union. Click here to read about other KSAT Community efforts.
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