The Little Gym Kicks Off Challenge To Collect One Million Shoes

The Little Gym of Newtown, the experiential learning and child physical development center for ages 4 months through 12 years, is launching a new initiative to collect used or outgrown shoes. The program, called “Big Hearts, Little Shoes,” benefits Soles4Souls, the international charity that collects shoes and distributes them to people in need around the globe.

Big Hearts, Little Shoes at The Little Gym is the first dedicated campaign for Soles4Souls focused on collecting children’s shoes. The program provides an interactive way for children to learn the value of charity and for parents and children to participate in a cause together.

At The Little Gym of Newtown, each class begins with children removing their shoes before entering the gym floor. Beginning in September, with the 2012-2013 season of classes, Newtown-area children and parents can donate shoes they have outgrown or no longer need in special Soles4Souls drop boxes located in the lobby. The shoes will be shipped to Soles4Souls, which is committed to collecting and distributing shoes to people living in extreme poverty and recovering from natural disasters.

The Little Gym of Newtown, will kick off its “shoe-raising” initiative with an open house event on September 8 from 1 to 3 pm at 266 South Main Street. For those children that grow up barefoot, every step counts in building self-confidence, even receiving a donation of a single pair of shoes.

“The Big Hearts, Little Shoes program is a natural fit with what we do at The Little Gym of Newtown,” said Andy Robbins, who co-owns the facility with his wife Tracey. “While gymnastics and physical skills form the basis of our classes, our curriculum provides for a well-rounded experience for children. Big Hearts, Little Shoe’ is a perfect complement to our Citizen Kid! focus on life skills that help children grow into well-rounded citizens of the world.”

One hundred percent of all shoes donated to Soles4Souls are sustainable: more than 99 percent are used to help those in need, and the remaining that cannot be used are directed to a waste-to-energy facility where they are used to produce environmentally clean and renewable energy.

Parents can visit www.TheLittleGym.com/BigHeartsLittleShoes for additional information and to view an animated video narrated by child actor Jonathan Morgan Heit (Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Bedtime Stories) that explains the campaign in a way children can understand.

For more information about The Little Gym of Newtown, contact Darcy Appleby at 203-304-9504 or tlgnewtownct@thelittlegym.com or visit www.thelittlegym.com/newtownct

The Little Gym is an internationally recognized program that helps children build the developmental skills and confidence needed at each stage of childhood; it has more than 300 locations across the globe.

Soles4Souls collects shoes to provide relief to victims of natural disasters and to support micro-enterprise efforts to eradicate poverty. Since its inception in 2004 Soles4Souls has distributed more than 17 million pairs of shoes, and has responded to more than 40 natural disasters worldwide with crisis relief aid, including Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake in 2010, the Japan earthquake, and the Alabama and Missouri tornadoes in 2011. With one in four people around the world living in abject poverty, the shoe charity also assists individuals living in developing nations and in the United States and Canada who cannot afford shoes. For more information, visit www.souls4soles.org.