Pledging to benefit and provide hope to children in underprivileged areas of St. Louis, Shoes for Thought is a Lafayette student managed organization that seeks to change lives. Co-managed by Jon Solomon, senior, he started this service through Whatever It Takes (WIT), a weekly social entrepreneurship program hosted at the CIC in downtown St. Louis, that helps teenagers build and eventually start their own business.

The project is a non-profit organization seeking donations like: shoes, t-shirts, socks, hats, skirts, dresses, and other miscellaneous clothing items that fit elementary school children. Upon donation the items will be bundled up into care packages and then be donated to more underprivileged elementary school children. Solomon seeks to use these care packages as an incentive to grow and learn for these children.

“We plan on going into these prospective schools and really getting to know these kids, we want to see who’s doing well, who’s struggling and encourage or congratulate these kids with the care packages” Solomon said.

The care packages will be rewarded to the children who show the effort and excitement towards learning.

The initial inspiration and continuous drive to start Shoes for Thought was after Natalie Dubose, owner of Natalie’s Cakes and More, shared her story  to Solomon and the rest of his WIT class. Dubose shared her experience of managing a business through the Ferguson riots and then striving to give back to the community she loves after the tension started to ease.

Dubose, after connecting with Solomon and hearing his prospective ideas for the project, offered to take Solomon and his business partner, Pranav Sreekumar, to local elementary schools for the students to seed their project out of.

“We always knew there were problems and ways to help [the schools] but we never really had that personal connection until Natalie gave us the opportunity to really visit these schools,” Solomon said.

Solomon not only hopes to benefit the needs of these children, but also build a connection with them at the same time.

“We don’t want to just give these kids the care packages and leave, we want to actually talk to them, establish relationships and encourage them to want to come to school everyday, eventually setting them up to find their own path for their future,” said Solomon.

Shoes for Thought is still a very close knit, blossoming operation, only being managed by two people. Donations, volunteers, and word of mouth are vital to the project and anyone can help. If you wish to donate to Shoes For Thought, contact Jon Solomon at 269-929-6594. The project aims to change lives for these children and your donation could help that initiative.