Thanks to Margaret at Your Therapy Source for alerting us to this fantastic project. Please support our contributors and visit Your Therapy Source!!

Brad Thuringer is an enthusiastic PTA who started Shoes4Kids.  I posted about this organization last year which you can view here.  I received a request to publicize this wonderful idea again this year for when they are at the APTA Annual Meeting and Exposition – PT 2012.  Please take the time to read his story and donate money or new sneakers if possible.
“This June will be the 7th anniversary of the first Shoes4Kids a.k.a Shoeless Sunday outreach effort.  Much has developed since my good friend Kerry Williams and I collected 55 pairs of new athletic shoes and visited children at a local Salvation Army in Orlando, FL.  Kerry is no long with us, he passed away a few years ago of cancer, but I know he would be amazed.
The one thing that has not changed over the years is the mission of Shoes4Kids. Shoes4Kids is all about serving the underprivileged and underserved child and their families by providing them with a new, brand name pair of athletic shoes.  Shoes4Kids mission is to make a difference in the life and health of our children 1) by making sure they have shoes that fit and 2) promoting and encouraging the benefits of exercise.
Since 2006, Shoes4Kids has distributed over 3000 pairs of new, brand name youth athletic shoes and over 5000 pairs of youth athletic socks to the children of Orlando, FL, Washington, DC., San Antonio, TX, Baltimore, MD, Boston MA, and National Harbor, MD.
This year, Shoes4Kids (S4K) is scheduled to be in Tampa, FL., June 2-9 in conjunction with the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Annual Meeting and Exposition – PT 2012.  It would be great to have you, your family, your church group or friends at work be involved in this year’s efforts.
S4K will be visiting The Hospitality House and the Red Shield Lodge Emergency Shelter, shelters associated with the Salvation Army, Tampa.  S4K will also be visiting a local grade school and distributing new shoes.
I am pleased to announce that the Doctoral Physical Therapy (DPT) students and faculty at the University of St. Augustine, St Augustine, FL has agreed to accept and transport the shoes to the shelters in Tampa. I am extremely grateful for their support and help with this year’s efforts. By their partnership, I will now be able to fly to Tampa in June instead of driving my SUV packed full of shoes, which I have done each year to each city visited since 2007.
How can you help? Your help is needed by either purchasing a pair(s) of “NEW” youth athletic shoes (toddler sizes 3-4 to teenager adult sizes up to 13-14) or sending a monetary donation to help purchase shoes.
Every pair of shoes represents the child whose face lights up when receiving them.  A child like Anna, a little girl who followed me as I left a shelter, saying, “Will you come back? Please come back.”
There is a child who needs you in Florida.
Mail financial donations to:
“Shoes4Kids”
Brad Thuringer, PTA
Instructor, ACCE
Physical Therapist Assistant Program
Lake Area Technical Institute
230 11th Street NE
PO Box 730
Watertown, South Dakota 57201

Shoes4Kids
c/o University of St. Augustine
1 University Blvd.
St. Augustine, FL 32086
Deadline for ALL donations shoes and monetary is May 25th, 2012.  No donation is too small.  In today’s world, every child deserves a new pair of shoes and every dollar can help make that happen.
On behalf of S4K, thank you! Thank you for believing that every child deserves a new pair of athletic shoes!  For more information, please contact me at 800/657-4344, ext. 325, or [email protected] .”