Shoe Drop: Day 1

Gaston Point Elementary School in Gulfport, MS

Today we gave away 474 pairs of shoes to students at Gaston Point Elementary! They greeted us with a sign on their marquee and banners in the gym! The students were absolutely amazing and incredibly thankful. When we got to the school, the students were reciting the pledge over the intercom and then they also recited the school's mission statement, who the President of the United States is, who the Governor of Mississippi is, who the Mayor is, and also the school rules... They also recited the year they will graduate from high school and college. The principal is very big on making sure the students know that they WILL go to and finish high school and college! It was an extremely encouraging and positive environment for these students.



The day went very smoothly, the principal had already collected the student's shoes sizes, which helped us out a lot and gave them more time to color. The kids came in by grade level and we had them sit down on chairs so we could fit them, some volunteers were bouncing all over the place making sure that everyone got the sizes they needed, while others were helping the kids put on their shoes. If we didn't know their shoe size we had a measuring chart that gave us an idea of what they may need. After they got their shoes, they went to the tables in the back and got to design them however they wanted!



This is Alex and he was so excited to get new shoes, he shared with us that the ones he came in wearing were too small and hurt his feet to wear.


There were so many kids that just wanted to have fun...

Christopher was in 4th grade and one of the first students we got to hang out with; he was an amazing kid, as they all were!


This is Blake (the founder of TOMS) and Jamaricah, also in 4th grade, and Christopher's cousin!


Towards the end of the day some of the teachers were even saying that for some kids, school is the best part of their day because they don't want to be at home. It was heartbreaking. One second grader, Ja'myra, even told me that she wished she could stay with me because I was nice and didn't want to go back to school. I quickly learned that when these kids come up and hug you, you hug them back because you never know what their lives are like outside of school and how much power a hug has...

The kindergarten was adorable! They made a sign for us and came and sang during our lunch break! They had a song that named all of the months of the year and they did the macarena to it :D



This is Elijah, coloring away! And another super cute kindergarten kid!


This is Atayvian! Too cute! And this is Ralph :D




Okay, well that's all I have got today! What an amazing day it has been though! Stay tuned for plenty of stories!