Businesses across Sheffield are being invited to put their best foot forward for Africa’s children - by becoming a collection point for unwanted shoes and boots.
Ken Dunn, the founder of charity ‘Africa’s Gift’, is an award-winning geography teacher and former deputy head of Sheffield's City School who was inspired to set up the charity after he won a trip to Africa as a prize in an amateur photography competition.
“A pair of shoes can seem the most basic possession to us in the UK, but in Africa it can mean the difference between a child being able to get to school or not,” said Ken. “Having been a teacher myself, I know non-uniform days can be tricky, especially for children from more disadvantaged areas, so I came up with an alternative: Happy Feet Day, a ‘non-uniform day’ for your feet!
"Students simply attend school in their choice of footwear, while handing over a pair of unwanted shoes that can be used again in rural Africa. All we ask is that the shoes are clean, paired, tied or bagged together when we collect the shoes from school on the Happy Feet Day, so there are no storage problems. We weigh them and make swift payment.” 
Businesses are now being encouraged to join in by providing collection sites or running their own Happy Feet Days.
Bristol Street Motors Nissan were Sheffield’s first business collection point, joined by city centre entrepreneur co-working space Union Street. Now independent running shops Accelerate at Attercliffe and Front Runner on Sharrowvale Road have started collection points and Ferndale garden centre at Coal Aston has become the latest drop-off site, covering the South West of the city and Derbyshire.
Shoes for Africa welcomes all adult or child sized shoes, sandals, sporting/football boots, walking boots or trainers, but cannot accept slippers, wellingtons or knee-length women’s fashion boots. Those unsuitable for Lesotho are sold in the markets of Accra, West Africa and every penny of the money raised goes to the charity.
Ken added: “Where schools or businesses are looking for income, we pay 40p per kilogram for reusable shoes, and then transport them to Africa, where they are introduced into the communities sensitively.
"Our focus is always on empowering community members rather than perpetuating a dependency culture and we work with key personnel to make this happen.”
As a charity, Africa’s Gift mainly supports business, educational and volunteers’ trips to make a difference in rural communities in South Africa, including Lesotho, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi and Uganda.
