Student Athletes Demonstrate True Christmas Spirit With A Shoe Drive

HUMBLE, TX -- Two brothers with a penchant for saving the shoes they so quickly outgrew are donating those shoes to a worthy cause.

Avion Jackson, 10, and his younger brother Addison Jackson, 9, have saved their shoes they've outgrown since they were very young.

"We'd always say we were going to donate the shoes,” the boy’s father, Adonis Jackson told the Houston Chronicle.

Adonis said Avion, who is a student athlete with Scholar Athletes of Texas program, has learned a lot about character at home as well as through the program, and devised the plan for a shoe drive that would benefit the Boys & Girls Harbor - an organization that provides residential care for children in need of a home environment.

The goal seemed simple enough: Collect 100 pair of shoes by Dec. 17.

"We wanted to give them a gift for Christmas because maybe something happened to their family," Avion said. "Many people out there don't have anything to keep their feet warm in winter, and I wanted to give people gifts for Christmas."

Several weeks ago, the Jackson brothers presented their idea of a shoe drive to Scholar Athletes and launched the Scholar Athlete Family Shoe Drive earlier this month.

The boys solicited shoe donations from friends and family, asking for shoes of every size.

Earlier this month, the boys set up a collection bin was placed in the gym where practices are held at the Lamb of God Church in Humble, which gave other Scholar Athlete teams of various grade levels had the opportunity to contribute shoes to the drive, which continued through through Dec. 17.

Through their collection alone the Jackson's were able to contribute several pairs of shoes they had been saving over the years.

Adonis said the first few days when the boys began their shoe drive didn’t yield any shoes, but then the donations began to come in, and as their collection grew, so did the boy’s excitement.
"... they realized they were doing something good," Adonis said.

Their efforts yielded nearly double their goal with 180 pair of shoes collected.

"This is a big deal for our kids,” said John Jeter, campus life director for Boys & Girls Harbor. “The shoes collected from this drive will end up being at least one pair of shoes for every kid on this campus. That's significant because this organization relies on donations from the community. All kids need shoes and clothes. It's a continual need. For someone to hold a drive to take care of that - it's a really neat thing."

For more information about the Scholar Athletes of Texas visit www.scholarathletestx.org.
To learn more about the Boys and Girls Harbor visit www.boysandgirlsharbor.org.

Image: Family O'Abe via Flickr