Students from Cy-Fair and Langham Creek High Schools collected more than 180 pairs of shoes from Copeland Elementary School on Wednesday to push CFISD’s collection totals to nearly 1,100 pairs of sneakers for Haitian schoolchildren through the New Missions program GiveSneakers.com
Copeland’s drive ran from May 1-15, and combined with donations from Lowery Elementary School, Salyards Middle School and Langham Creek and Cy-Fair high schools, students shattered their initial goal of 900 pairs of sneakers.
“When we first made our goal, we thought we might be overshooting it,” said Langham Creek sophomore Marin Anderson, who helped round up sneakers along with Langham Creek sophomore Andrew Hadad and Cy-Fair junior Blake Hayes. “I think the students here are very excited because they haven’t had a lot of opportunities like this yet. Their response has been phenomenal.” Copeland principal Michelle Rice, who coincided the shoe drive as part of the school’s monthly community outreach program, Copeland Cares, said she was not surprised by the outpouring of support.
“The Copeland community is a very giving and generous community,” Rice said. “I am impressed with all the leadership we are developing within our students in Cy-Fair. We’re helping them look to the outside, and this is a generation of children who want to be counted on by others.” Hayes helped launch the shoe drive last month with the support of his mother, Langham Creek director of instruction Rebecca Hayes. The Hayes family had visited Haiti over spring break and seen firsthand the impact that quality footwear can have on the academic success of children in the impoverished country.
“I’m very impressed with these students at Copeland. I don’t think they even understand the huge impact they’ve already made for children in Haiti,” Hayes said. “These 180-odd pairs of shoes can go so far down there; they’re a ticket for the children to be allowed to attend school. I can’t wait to go back and see the impact that this shoe drive has made for them.”
