As our founder was unfortunate enough to discover firsthand on one of her recent trips, parasitic worms are a common and painful nuisance to the people of Nicaragua.  While shoes are a part of the uniform that children receive in our sponsorship program, they are treated as special and are rarely worn outside of school.  Whenever children are home, they are likely to go barefoot or what shoes they have are often hand-me-downs that are falling apart from so much use.

Returning home and discovering she'd acquired a parasite in her foot, Jennifer immediately sought medical attention.  Surgery was suggested as an option, but did not work out at the time.  As an alternative, she was prescribed a medication that would kill the parasite, that, without insurance, would have cost multiple thousands of dollars.  Thankfully, it was considerably more affordable with her health insurance.

Realizing that most Nicaraguans can't afford health insurance or the cost of medication to kill these parasites, Jennifer jumped at the opportunity to partner with Because International and their program "The Shoe That Grows."  In March 2018, we were able to distribute 100 pairs of The Shoe to some of our students who were thrilled to receive them.

The great thing about these shoes is that, as the name indicates, they grow with the kids.  Each pair is fully adjustable to 5 different sizes.  As a child grows, all they have to do is adjust their shoe to the larger size.

We are always looking for more opportunities to distribute The Shoe to the kids in our program, which now number over 1,300!  The cost to donate a pair of shoes is only $15.  Click the button below or visit our shop to donate a pair!