An entire community established Goedverwacht Awakens NPC to help create more opportunities for everyone; they started a school shoe initiative that can really change lives!
Goedverwacht, South Africa (29 March 2021) – Goedverwacht Awakens NPC was launched to help boost tourism and other jobs in the community as well as to give back to community-based causes.
One of the initiatives launched by Goedverwacht Awakens NPC is the School Shoe Project. School Shoe Project aims to place well-made shoes on the feet of rural school children that cannot afford proper footwear. The organisation came up with a way to make sure children have comfortable footwear, all the while creating sustainable jobs for the local cobbler and his employees.
“This initiative started as a plan to develop the tourism potential of Goedverwacht but after consultation with the community through a series of town hall meetings it was agreed that the primary sectors of the community should be involved. These were identified as the tourism, agriculture, small business, cultural preservation and social development sectors.
Goedverwacht Awakens is actively seeking out access to programmatic skills development and training in business and entrepreneurship, personal development and other relevant opportunities for the local community.”
The community is working together to help boost their local economy and make the town a place where everyone can access opportunity. The cobbler is very excited about the influx of business and to help make a difference for the school children in the community.
Each pair of shoes will be made for the child it is destined to go to. This means it will be moulded to the footprint, hand-made from real leather and have a good stretch.
Goedverwacht Awakens set up a crowdfund on Thundafund, meaning that the funds will be reimbursed to the donors if they do not reach their funding goal. They need to raise R35,000 towards their dream goal of R105,000. So far, the community have raised just over R21,000. You can support the cause here.
“After the initial Tipping Point we will be able to equip the Cobblers Shop with Cutting Knives and tools for 12 shoe sizes – from kids 12 to adult 10.
When we reach our target we will have a fully tooled up Cobblers Shop keeping 2 apprentices in work and able to sell shoes on the general market.
We will also launch The School Shoe Library: When a scholar outgrows their shoes they return them to Cobblers where they are overhauled and passed on free to a younger child whose parents cannot afford school shoes. A replacement pair of shoes can be purchased for R50.”
You can find out more about Goedverwacht Awakens via their Facebook page here. We love seeing these small South African towns taking things into their own hands to better everyone’s lives.
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A great transfer of skills