This new exciting in-store scheme allows customers to donate shoes (unbranded Clarke’s shoes also allowed) to help fund international education projects which then go on to transform the lives of children everywhere.
Clarkes first started this scheme when they collaborated with UNICEF. Since then, one of the many projects this Clarke’s scheme has helped fund is the building of sustainable classrooms for children in Africa. Due to inadequate educational facilities, 1.6 million children in Côte d’Ivoire alone do not go to school. That number is gradually decreasing thanks to the work of UNICEF, and the partners who, like us, support them.
Ten-year-old Ange Emmanuel lives in Sanguine, in the West of Côte d’Ivoire. He is one of the many children who can now attend school thanks to the new sustainable classrooms made from recycled plastic bottles.
“Before, there was a lot of dust in the class, and the blackboard was so grey we could hardly read what was written on it,” he says. “When it rained, we all got wet. Animals came at night to sleep in our class. Now, with the new classrooms, everything is so clean. We have a nice big blackboard, and there’s even electricity and light! It feels very comfortable now, and I like coming to school.”
1,300 children like Ange Emanuel now have access to better learning spaces in an environmentally friendly school. ShoeShare, therefore, has the dual benefit of supporting children across the world as well as diverting shoes away from landfills, with over 300 million pairs of shoes being thrown out by the public in the UK, with the majority going to landfills.
Since launching this partnership, over 500 schools have also held ShoeShare collections, further helping Unicef in their amazing work – both in the UK and abroad.
Do you have old shoes that you would like to donate to Clarks ShoeShare? You can join us in helping UNICEF to reach even more kids in danger by donating your old or unwanted shoes to Clarke’s at Lakeside Village. Every pair of shoes can make a difference.
