Finding new feet for donated sneakers

Nelson Intermediate School students are on a mission to help other kids into the perfect pair of sneakers.

‘Lazy sneakers’ is a sneaker donation and distribution service.

It works like this - people donate their old sneakers and then they are redistributed back into the community for those who need them.

The idea was developed in 2017 by 12-year-old Maia Mariner in Wellington when she noticed her peers couldn’t participate in sports because they didn’t have the right footwear. The initiative is now running all over New Zealand.

Nelson Intermediate School teacher Tony Jenkins is heading the initiative for the Nelson region.

“We will collect shoes here at school and at Jack Robins Basketball Stadium and give them out to those in need,” he says.

“The whole idea of Lazy Sneakers is that if you no longer are using old shoes they are now ‘lazy’ and therefore could be donated.”

He says the idea is to start small within the school but then eventually donate shoes out into the wider community.

This is the third time the school has run the initiative.

“In 2021/2022 we reactivated a total 210 pairs of shoes back into our own community with a large number of them being students here.”

Student Felix Heathfield says so far, they have received 31 pairs of sneakers in their first week of collecting. Anyone can donate sneakers, just drop them into the school office on Tipahi St.

Shoes need to still be in good condition, e.g, no holes. If you need some sneakers, email Tony at [email protected] to find out how to get a pair.