Jackson rotary clubs raise money to put shoes on the feet of kids in Jackson Madison County

All three rotary clubs came together in Jackson today for one sole purpose.

It all started when health and wellness manager for West Tennessee Healthcare Shelley Hayes was preparing a field trip to the LIFT for Jackson Madison County schools.

“We requested on permission slips that they please make sure students wear tennis shoes. The health coordinator brought up a very valid point that we can list that on there but chances are not every child has a pair of tennis shoes," says Hayes.

That is when a need was realized.

Hayes started an initiative called 'heart and sole', where community members come together and raise money to try and fulfill this need.

Superintendent Ray Washington explains just show much a pair of shoes can impact a students life.

“That they're not too large or too small, things like that impact your daily life how can you learn if you're uncomfortable with whatever you have on,” says Superintendent Washington.

The goal is to first help the neediest school in Jackson Madison County and then work their way to putting shoes on the feet of all 13 thousand students.

"That school has been determined, Andrew Jackson, so the goal today is to raise 10 thousand dollars to fully fund that school to start and work our way through the whole school system that way,” says Hayes.

Anyone is welcome to donate and be involved in this initiative.