Every Little Bit Matters
What were you like as a second grader? Do you remember your classroom? Your teacher’s name? At recess, did you race to the swingset or to the basketball hoop? Were you happier about the first day of school—or the last day before summer break?
For the great majority of kids in the United States, having access to an education is a given, a privilege some of us may have even taken for granted. But in developing countries like Haiti, education is out of reach for massive numbers of kids. With 80% of people living in poverty, 6 out of 10 Haitian children will drop out of school before 6th grade—if they attend at all.
Education is a pathway out of poverty. That’s why Soles4Souls partners like l’Ecole de Choix (The School of Choice) are so critical to the communities they serve—and to the kids who attend them. Take Mitchina, for instance. At eight years old, Mitchina started the school year quiet and shy, speaking in a whisper and sitting in the back of the class. But these days, because of her confidence-boosting education, she’s one of second grade’s biggest talkers—a rising star among her classmates.
Your generous support means Mitchina and her friends have the uniforms they need to attend school. Of course, it’s about more than pants and shoes. As our Choix partners explain it:
The quality uniform and sparkly tennis shoes that Mitchina wears represent not merely a distribution of goods, but an extraordinary demonstration of the confidence and strength that can be formed when children know they are entering a safe environment each day with the same things that everyone else has. They are not isolated or differentiated by what they do or do not have, nor by what their parents could or could not afford to buy for them. … they are equals and … receive the same quality education that will lead them into an adulthood where they are able to make empowering choices for themselves.
Please make a donation today to keep kids like Mitchina in school—and on a path out of poverty.
ONE DOLLAR = ONE PAIR.