London, 4th December 2014: Clarks and Unicef UK have today announced the re-launch of their newly named partnership ‘ShoeShare’, which raises funds to help Unicef improve access to education for vulnerable children around the world.
ShoeShare encourages Clarks customers across the UK to raise money by donating their old or unwanted shoes to their local Clarks shop and for every ton of shoes received, Clarks make a donation to Unicef. All the monies raised will be used to improve facilities in schools, including providing training for teachers, learning materials for children such as exercise books and pencils and safe spaces to learn.
Millions of children around the world are missing out on their right to go to school because they have to work to support their families and their parents can’t afford the school fees. In some regions, girls are expected to stay at home and marry whilst in others, children who have had to flee their homes due to humanitarian crises such as conflict and natural disasters are living in refugee camps and no longer have a school to go to.
‘School in a box’, however, which is one of the items that donations to ShoeShare will fund, is a case which when opened can transform any space into a child-friendly learning space giving children the chance to learn so they can continue their schooling and maintain a degree of normality in their lives. Each box contains essential learning items and basic school supplies for 80 children such as pencils, exercise books, wooden cubes for counting, posters and a lid that serves as a chalk board. These help to give giving those children living in refugee camps the opportunity to go to school and interact with other children.
Philip Jackson, Director of Buying and Merchandising who leads on the partnership at Clarks commented: “We are proud to be involved with Unicef UK to bring such a great initiative to our customers. To be able to turn such a simple task of donating old shoes into something that can really make a difference is something that we are extremely proud of and hope to build on with the re-launch of ShoeShare.”
David Bull, Executive Director of Unicef UK said: “Every child should be able to fulfill their dreams and getting a good quality education is absolutely crucial to helping them to realise their full potential and develop into confident, successful young adults. Whether it’s learning to read and write, or mastering mathematics, our ShoeShare partnership with Clarks is enabling more children to go to school and feel empowered about their future. I urge everyone to head down to their nearest participating Clarks shop and drop off their used and unwanted shoes so we can make this a reality.”
Customers can deposit shoes at ShoeShare drop off points in more than 450 of Clarks stores nationwide. For more information on the ShoeShare partnership and how to make a donation, please visit www.clarks.co.uk/unicef
Clarks and Unicef have been working together for the past six years and have raised over £730,000 to help improve access to education for children.
For further information about Unicef UK please contact:
Ami Agbolegbe – amia@unicef.org.uk / 0207 375 6069
