Our Women’s empowerment group doing their ‘chicken dance’
Every Charity has a way, let’s tell you (lots) about us and our method.
What began as a mission to combat hookworm and HIV has evolved into something far greater. Kenyan National Television has rightly recognized us as “the Changemakers in Kenya.” From our humble beginnings (yet we still only retain one paid staff member), Shoe4Africa has grown to build East and Central Africa’s first public children’s hospital, which has treated over 1.2 million children to date (06/2024). In addition, we have established six free-to-attend schools and a Boys and Girls Club, making a profound impact on the lives of countless children. Hundreds of jobs have been generated by Shoe4Africa, we’ve handed out over 6,000,000 meals to the hungry, and our impact grows by the day.
Our mission has only just begun. By 2026, we will have completed the African Children’s Health Village, a groundbreaking facility that will treat more children in one center than any other on the continent, whether public or private. As a public facility, we are proud to be arguably doing more for the health and wellbeing of African children than any other small nonprofit organization* in Africa. (*defined by ADF as less than three staff members).
Shoe4Africa originated from Toby Tanser’s vision to leverage the power of sports to make a positive impact on the lives of African children. The organization’s initial focus was on collecting and distributing athletic shoes to aspiring young runners in Kenya, whilst leveraging village crowds to pass on messages of health. Over the years, Shoe4Africa expanded its scope to address broader issues affecting children, including other aspects of healthcare and education.
Key Initiatives
- Children’s Hospitals: Shoe4Africa has played a pivotal role in the establishment of a children’s hospital in Africa. Notably, the Shoe4Africa Public Children’s Hospital, inaugurated in 2015, serves as a dedicated teaching facility for pediatric care, treating hundreds of children each day. LINK Currently, Shoe4Africa is constructing a specialized 152-bed children’s cancer hospital. This will be the first children’s cancer hospital in the vast region of sub-Saharan Africa.
- Education: The organization has been actively involved in providing educational opportunities to children across Africa. This includes the construction of free-to-attend public schools, contributing to the education of thousands of children. Six schools have been constructed and the institutions are linked to renowned Kenyan athletes. LINK
An afterschool boys and girls club in the center of a town serves many other schools. Several other schools have benefitted by the addition of classrooms, books, toilets, and ancillary buildings. - Women’s Empowerment: A 138-women strong group of domestic survivors learns how agriculture can lift them out of poverty with our dairy & agro programs.
- Sports Development: Shoe4Africa supports sports development programs, including organizing races and events to promote physical activity and healthy living among African youth. LINK The organization believes in the transformative power of sports to instill discipline, teamwork, and resilience.
Partnerships
Shoe4Africa has formed strategic partnerships with various individuals, corporations, and foundations to further its mission. Notable collaborations include support from renowned athletes, corporate sponsors, and healthcare professionals who share the organization’s commitment to improving the well-being of African children.
Notable Achievements
- Children’s Public Hospital: Opened on August 2015, this fully equipped hospital, by June 2024, has treated over 1,200,000 children. LINK
- Children’s Cancer Hospital: One of Shoe4Africa’s significant achievements is the ongoing construction of the Shoe4Africa Juli Anne Perry Children’s Cancer Hospital, the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa. This hospital aims to provide specialized care for children battling cancer. LINK
- Global Impact: Shoe4Africa’s impact extends beyond Kenya, with initiatives and projects reaching children in other African nations. The organization’s dedication to addressing healthcare, education, and sports-related challenges has garnered international recognition. LINK
Our latest news & updates are found here: LINK
NYC Governance Board:
Jon Lang, joined Dec. 2015
Summer Lang, November 2019
Edina Lemo, September 2024
Sherif Moussa, November 2019
Zeynep Siegel, joined May 2015
Dave Siegel, Chairman. Joined Dec. 2013
Toby Tanser, CEO, Founder. ex officio
Amy Zhen, joined Mar. 2021
Click to open up board bios
Founder’s story
Advisory Board:
Kim Alexis, Supermodel, Women’s Ambassador. WEB
Kathy Spahn, CEO of Helen Keller. WEB
George Hirsch, Chairman of the NYRR (NYC marathon). WEB
Kamuti Kiteme,Executive Vice President, Databanq Internet Media Services, Inc.
Mary Wittenberg, Former CEO NYC Marathon, & CEO of Virgin Sport. WEB
Honorary former advisories; Grete Waitz, and Shay Hirsch.
Phil Devivo, Global Ambassador
Shoe4Africa Hospital Board (all living in Eldoret, Kenya):
Dr. J. C. Kibosia, former CEO Kenyatta National Hospital & Moi Referral Hospital.
Dr. W. Aruasa, former CEO, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.
Toby Tanser, CEO & Founder of Shoe4Africa.
Chelimo Saina, Women’s Community Representative.
Eng. Atogo Odhiambo, MTRH/S4A Hospital Engineer.
Our Mission
Advancing Africa: Building Hospitals, Healthcare, Education, and Empowerment.
Our Vision
That no child is denied basic healthcare or quality education. That the sick be tended to and the uneducated be taught. There will be a world united that is inspired to wipe out poverty.
Some of our highlights over the years
December 1995 – the project starts in Kenya, giving shoes to athletes to help them ‘help themselves’. Runners such as Sammy Korir and Simon Biwott soon distinguish themselves internationally.
Spring 1996 – Seeing a need to address Hookworm, a health component is added to the program. The handouts expand to Tanzania, and beyond.
Jan 2000 – After a harrowing attack on the founder, where he loses a shoe, whilst battling to save his life the project gets a name; Shoe4Africa.
Jan 2001 – Shoes are sent to an unknown schoolboy in Tanzania, who a few years later becomes a world champion. Three future commonwealth games champions are also receiving shoes.
Dec 2005 – Shoe4Africa starts, instead of just sponsoring shoe drops, holding races to support AIDS awareness. Many athletes use these races to become ‘discovered’ like an unknown girl called Mary Keitany, who would become a world champion and the women’s marathon record holder.
Jan 2006 – Shoe4Africa becomes a registered 501 C3 US charity. Fashion designer Narcisco Rodriguez attends our opening party. We hold Shoe4Africa women’s only races in Kenya, Tanzania, and Morocco promoting AIDS awareness and women’s empowerment. Shoes are sent around the world. A school scholarship fund is started, supporting needy children. Wrote and published the first ever AIDS awareness brochures in the local rift valley Kalenjin language. Had 925-ladies at our our AIDS testing clinic, in an area where Western Agencies had failed to reach numbers in double digits.
2007 – Cristiano Ronaldo becomes an ambassador, as does Sammy Wanjiru who would become the Olympic men’s marathon champion the following year. Anthony ‘Goose’ Edwards becomes the charity’s chairman. Races around Africa continue, focusing on AIDS awareness.
2008 – Shoe4Africa announces that it will build East & Central Africa’s 1st Public Children’s Hospital. At this time there is only one public children’s hospital in Sub Saharan Africa, in Cape Town. Nelson Mandela has also announced he wished for his legacy to have a Children’s Hospital, in Johannesburg. The organization galvanizes hundreds of Kenyan superstar athletes and holds a series of high profiled peace races, featured on CNN, the largest being a 5,000 women-strong run inside the Kibera Slums. The press calls this the largest gathering of ladies only in the history of the slums. Natalie Portman becomes an ambassador and the charity, after posting Natalie in her Shoe4Africa T-shirt, gets its first website crash! Ronaldo donates his prize money for winning the World’s best football player. Started a women’s football team made up of Kibera slum dwellers in Nairobi.
2009 – Shoe4Africa announces it will build public schools to address a struggling educational system in Kenya. Hundreds of Flipcams handed to ladies in the slums allowing theme to tell their side of the story.
2010 – With no staff, paid or otherwise, and all donations going 100% to the hospital fund the charge to raise the necessary money is a worry; a fundraising run, from the African Coast to the top of Kilimanjaro, quickly injects a good amount of capital! The first Shoe4Africa school is opened.
2011 – Hugh Jackman runs his first half marathon for Shoe4Africa, and endorses the charity. Actors Tom Cavanaugh, James Legros, and Anthony Edwards also run. The second Shoe4Africa school is opened.
2012 – Shoe4Africa is featured again on CNN, this time with Sanjay Gupta. In our third year of Make-up Make-overs, where we give make up kits, teach beauty lessons inside the Kibera slums, Victoria Secrets Model Ajuma joins us, and IMAN cosmetics donates the merchandise. T-Mobile sponsors our NYC 5km and our board member, John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile, almost wins the race. Pepsico announce a three year sponsorship of Shoe4Africa.
2013 – Groundbreaking takes place and the first foundation stone is lain on August 21st. The third school is opened. As with our earlier schools we hand out donated laptops from the Soros team in New York. Shoe4Africa also builds classrooms and toilets at non-Shoe4Africa schools. We run albino programs supplying critical UV/UVA eye care and UV clothing to an Albino school in Kenya.
2014 – The fourth Shoe4Africa school is opened. Whilst the hospital takes precedence the charity runs ancillary programs, like its annual Maruge peace days honoring the world’s oldest schoolboy, Kimani Maruge. Our avocado and beans agri-program is launched, supported economically disadvantaged single mothers. We do a massive free e-reader program, handing out Nooks to kids who have never owned a book. Each Nook is loaded with 300 books! Our first students have now begun to graduate universities, for example, Boniface Kipkosgei, graduating as a A- student was our first, with a degree in Aerospace engineering.
2015 – East & Central Africa’s 1st public children’s hospital is opened on August 12th, and gifted to the Kenyan people. Immediately, 60 patients move in! It is the tenth anniversary of the women’s empowerment free races where thousands of running shoes, T shirts, prize money and AIDS awareness help has been given out to thousands of ladies. It’s our 20th anniversary, hundreds of jobs have been created for locals, after 19-years, Shoe4Africa hires its first ever employee to run the foundation. To this day the foundation staff remains at one person. Eliud Kipchoge, who had just started a career as a marathoner, comes as our chief guest to the Christmas part becoming our first hospital ambassador.
2016 – The Eat & Run Kitchens open to feed the hospital. Very soon making 1,650 meals each day, over 600,000 per year! Our new dairy college empowerment center in Cherangani opens to empower ladies, who have been subjected to domestic violence. At the New York City Marathon the four invited Kenyan female elite athletes state that they all ran in Shoe4Africa development races as youngsters. Moi University Medical school now have over 30-students studying at our hospital to become East Africa’s next medics. our hospital gets a brand new, state of the art, fully fitted ambulance.
2017 – Two outdoor playrooms are added to ease congestion. We open two operating theaters inside the hospital. We celebrate hundreds, if not thousands of jobs have been created for Africans by Shoe4Africa – one non-African employee runs Shoe4Africa!
2018 – The fifth Shoe4Africa school is opened. Each school honors a local hero; this one for the world record holder, Mary Keitany. Later in the year Mary opens the basketball court at the hospital. By the end of the year, 283,000 in and out patients have been treated at this facility, and over 1,600 kids daily go to Shoe4Africa schools.
2019 – Eliud Kipchoge opens the new astro-turf soccer pitch at the hospital for all weather sports rehab. The superstar has visited the hospital each year, since opening, as our Hospital Ambassador. The 300,000th patient milestone is passed in February. The Kuunga Mkono classrooms, two, are opened at the hospital for long stay patients. Patients from as far as Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, Southern Sudan, Rwanda, and Uganda have visited the hospital. Although the hospital has 157-beds there are always more than 200-in patients each day. Our kitchens go over 1.5 million meals!
2020 – Shoe4Africa plans to ground break on the new Shoe4Africa Juli Anne Perry Children’s Cancer Hospital to address the travesty that 9/10 kids diagnosed with cancers are dying in East & Central Africa. The Sidekick foundation pledges to build a Children’s 50-bed burns unit on site. This promises to make the Shoe4Africa campus the biggest center in Africa for treating the sick child.
2021 – Over 750,000 kids have been treated since opening in 2015. Our wards are full. The new cancer hospital is truly needed. December 24th is the date set for the groundbreaking. Our 6th school opens in Nandi County.
2022 – Work begins as we start building our first ever young girls empowerment club – think of a Boys & Girls American type club but focusing on girls aged six to sixteen. In December, we passed the millionth patient treated at our hospital since 2015. Four of the six four World Major Marathon winners come to celebrate with the kids, and they donate a new trampoline! Also, 5,629,000 meals have been provided over the years to hungry mouths since 2015, and a total of17,200 kids taught at our schools.
2023 – The need for a consultants house for the Shoe4Africa Hospital means we will construct a building to service the 20+ consultants who work at our hospital. The Boys & Girls Club opens its doors in Iten.
2024 – The Cancer hospital starts construction on the 7th of January. Shoe4Africa also chairs the construction implementation team of a Burns Unit in Eldoret, Kenya. Construction starts on a Boys Dorms at the Mary Keitany Shoe4Africa Secondary School, and the above Consultants House begins construction. An ambitious feeding program concept is launched aiming to feed 1,000 kids each morning in 2025 as Shoe4Africa launches the construction of the ‘Mushroom House’ and the ‘Porridge Club.’
More about our method.
Why Sub-Saharan Africa?
There is no place in the world with a greater need for the basic necessities of life than in the region of East Africa; the cradle of mankind.
Do you do the work, or do you use partners on the ground?
We do the work. Whilst we understand the ‘new trend is for charities in America to raise awareness and then fund ‘partners on the ground’ this actually doubles overheads. Frustratingly, this is why over 50% of funds raised for Africa in America stay in America. If that large charity trusts the partner-on-the-ground why don’t they advise you to just donate directly to them? Proof of this concept is our hospital had less than $15,000 in project management & staff fees over three years for a multi-million dollar building for our organization. Our schools construction had zero project management costs.
We always use a local staff when working on our projects, hiring 100% African locals.
Why do NGO’s say they are helping Africa, is this what “Africa” is asking for?
All Kenyan citizens sit on our decision making Hospital Board. All the requests we get for the work we do comes 100% from Africans living in Africa. Only with our org. being based in America are we successfully able to fund raise. We have tried the method of fund raising in both continents; Africa & Americas – for us one works, one doesn’t.
Can I see your projects on google maps?
Of course! Google; Shoe4africa + Eldoret, Kenya and you can zoom in our hospital. The schools are there too. Want to start a project with us, we’ll fix on the co-ordinates and zoom you in form your armchair. Check out the hospital!
“I went to another charity website, yours looks a bit dated”
Yes we don’t spend money on a slick website, we don’t spend money on pretty much anything other than getting programs done. That could be to our detriment in terms of fund raising we realize, but our model is based on not wasting your money on website, cool video’s, awesome this that and the other…
How our model financially functions.
For a long time we worked truly as a Volunteer charity, for 19-years (1995-2014) no one took a salary. The work became overwhelming, time consuming beyond a concept of normal time, travel in two continents; a labor of love turned into a total time vortex. People thought we weren’t an official charity either as we didn’t pay a staff. The concept of all-volunteer started to backfire.
S4A has one paid full time staff member who oversees and builds up the team at the start of each project, that staff member oversees the general running of the org. We have absolutely zero office expenses to pay for an office (never had) in either America or Kenya.
A book keeper, and auditors, are hired, and the board oversees all expenditure & approves the budget. That is the USA. In Africa, we have a board who help with the actual projects. Our engineer vets the hiring process, and our board selects the Architect and Contractor for each project through a vetting process. Again the every day running of the show is done by the same one staff member who can work bi-continentally.
This way we are able to keep the costs extremely low, and we keep our eyes entirely on the work from the actual donation all the way to the implementing at the destination.
We never begin a project launch (break ground) unless we are sure that we will complete it.
In twenty years how much have you paid for marketing and PR, and producing state-of-the art videos?
Nothing; not a penny. The only video we had that was professionally made, our infomercial, was made for free by Jesse Dylan (Son of Bob!). However for new charities we don’t advise you try this method! We have seen the people who have slick websites, superb videos, pay for marketing bring in far more money than we do, even when they do less work! An example is a charity whose mandate is health in Kenya – all they do is advise people to go to our hospital and other Kenyan government run establishments. yet their marketing, and website, are brilliant.
Why a Hospital?
Again, it was a request of the Kenyan people; ‘We don’t have a dedicated public children’s hospital in the entire region of East & Central Africa.’ The (then) Minister of Medical services stated although there was a dire need the budget for health, at around 5% GDP, could sustain programs, not start new projects.
Many diseases are regularly found (or endemic) in Africa and often prove fatal when they’re not treated quickly and efficiently. Access to healthcare is critical. A health center is also important where it can be a database and knowledge central station. We realized that our 105-bed hospital* might be a good start, but if we can get that hospital works as a digital imaging global hospital with partner hospitals around the globe…. (*currently 150+ beds)
At our hospital students from the Moi University are coming Monday to Friday training to become the next medics of East Africa.
Why Education?
A most memorable lunch in Kenya with a Rwanda genocide survivor, “I saw the people who killed by parents, my brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts… I hid in the bush. The killers were the uneducated; educated people would have never done that.” (Disi D.)
Education opens the door to a better life, upon that probably the whole world will agree. We want to improve the education levels in the areas where we work and are doing so in our schools.
Shoe4Africa Schools are free and fully government accredited; meaning access for all regardless of what race, religion, sex or income every single child is welcomed; we are all inclusive. Our schools are chosen, built, and run by the community. An ambassador, local to the village, who has reached extraordinary levels, in both Education and Sport, is chosen to set a standard for achieving success. We build in the village communities shunned by the more traditional charities who have habitually chosen high profile city areas. The community is 100% gifted the trusted building, thus completely taking the onus on for being the change maker for its tomorrows.
Why the name Shoe4Africa?
A story about a shoe that was lost in Africa.
I see the name Africa but notice a lot just about Kenya?
The plan was to help where we could; what started out in Kenya soon expanded; to Tanzania with events and programs, then to Morocco, we were helping athletes from Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Africa, and many more countries with shoe donations and sending equipment, and helping with some scholarships. Even out of Africa to Sri Lanka, New York, and the Ukraine, and yet our team was small. We constantly monitor and evaluate our work and realized given our current size (monetary and staff) we could be more efficient working mainly within a hundred mile radius. Yet, kids come to be treated at our hospital from as far as Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Southern Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and we have even had a handful of patients from the USA & Sweden!
What is the solution for Saving and Empowering African Kids Lives. Empowering the Women.
Because Kids are dying from Treatable/Preventable diseases, and we saw that an answer was giving access to public healthcare for kids, we build East Africa’s 1st public kid’s hospital.
- Program Design and implementation; from the initial stage in 2008 to opening the doors in 2015, it was hands on the ground a ‘Kenya project’. Local workers, local architect, local contractor, working for the Kenyan people.
- Program auditing; an independent Kenyan team, who had come to the US for training and with experience delivering projects for USAID and PEPFAR, carefully audited each step of the way. Constant monitoring and evaluating, careful on-going cost cutting following the research of four years project development before the implementation initiated.
- Program Well-being; Kenyan Doctors and a Kenyan Shoe4Africa board work with Shoe4Africa USA to maximize improvements as we scale up to save more lives.
Charities are often Asked; “Is it needed?” Yes – The USA has over 157 kids hospitals with 320-million citizens. Why would Sub-Saharan Africa have only one public children’s hospital for one billion people? Ours, in 2015, was Sub Saharan’s 2nd public kids hospital, with the Nelson Mandela Hospital in 2017 down in South Africa now being the third.
“Is your model effective?” Yes – we are seeing over 130,000 poor patients per year, and impacting a far greater number, with jobs, training, and outreach.
“Can you scale?” We are; in our first year we were able to treat a far smaller number. We can also copy our model, that delivered under budget and on time and with two year project management fees including all travel for around $15,000 USD for a multi-million dollar project.
“Do you create jobs?” Absolutely. Hundreds of people have been hired because of our initiatives.
“Are you sustainable?” Well our sister hospital, that runs on the exact same system as ours with finances has been running since 1917, thus we can say Yes! Lastly,
“What is Shoe4Africa’s exit strategy?” Every project we have done in Africa was built for us to exit and to be fully self-reliant; that is our model. if we collapse tomorrow nothing will fail; all will continue. Our existence just brings more positive change.
Our projects are 100% locally owned. All the people who work with us on our projects in Africa are African.
We have a (very) strong presence on the ground based on trust on what we have done over a twenty year+ history. We believe in a holistic approach to solving issues that is flexible and changeable to the best and latest trends.
Health: We were happy to read in print what we believed to be true: Nick Kristoff noted that access to healthcare was the biggest disruption of addressing the trend of better mortality rates. (source). There is an absolute health crisis in East Africa, rather than scream to deaf ears that 1 out of 8 kids is dying before their fifth birthday as has been the case for years, we are providing a solution that works.
The problem in our region was, in 2006-7, kids were going to East Africa’s 2nd largest General public hospital where beds were at a constant 150+% occupancy. With dire congestion choices were being made; the priority was to give the caregiver of the family preferred treatment. Kids came in last. We found Mothers were stopping taking children to the hospital (“Why, after three days we go home with our child untreated?”). We asked Doctors who stated that they should not be blamed, “If an adult dies then you have ten kids on the streets tomorrow.”
We knew to make an impact we had to get the child through the hospital doors and be the priority. With no public children’s hospital for an area of over 250-million we knew there was a major problem.
The outcome – We built a public kids teaching hospital. Now thousands of kids getting quality healthcare, mothers traveling from all over Kenya knowing that their child will be seen and treated in a timely, dignified, and respectful matter. Today, on average 429 kids are being treated in our child-only public hospital per day — that is 429 x 365-days = over 150,000. The first time in history this has happened in East & Central Africa. Are child mortality rates changing for the better? Yes! During May 2018 we questioned every out-patient mother; nobody had waited longer than one hour before having their child treated!
Are we finished? No. Now we enter phase two, working on a swifter turnover of patients. Better equipment. Improved services. Teaching prevention, offering screenings. Reaching kids in an earlier stage of their illness. Motivating Docs/Nurses to raise the bar. Constructing ancillary buildings. Opening a Music Therapy House. Initiating a child education unit in the grounds… and more. Now these are complete we move on to the GGG below.
Our Great Gregarious Goal? A huge problem is Childhood Cancers in East Africa. We plan to replicate our success by building the first Kids Cancer Hospital in Sub Saharan Africa upon the same sustainable plan we used for our general children’s hospital. Our immediate impact will be at once saving 500 -kids lives according to Dr. T. Vik with our evaluation studies more than tripling this number within three years.
Great Gregarious Goal #2? A children’s healthcare insurance fund for East Africa using the Telecommunications world. Giving greater access…
#3 Sustainable serviced rural medical centers that are stocked, not by the charity sector or donations but by profit. Giving greater access…
#4 building East Africa’s Digital Health Center for Pediatrics to give greater access…
We focus on three pillars. An overview of our work.
Hospitals: We’re bringing life-saving medical care to a catchment area of over 10- million children in East Africa.
- Built public children’s hospital (only 3 in Sub-Saharan Africa) – today running at (over) full capacity.
- An accredited Teaching Hospital, with ISO 9001:2008 certification and a partnership with Kenya’s 2nd largest university.
- Now constructing (2024) the first public children’s cancer hospital in Sub Saharan Africa.
Our first hospital budget was slated at $6m+ and took seven years of planning, endless fund raising, and total commitment. We opened its doors on August 12th 2015. We started with nothing but a couple of donations that surmounted to less than $400 in the bank for the project in April of 2008, and had absolutely no employees but through sheer determination and will, we overcame tremendous odds, stayed the course, and built this new top-notch hospital and staffed it with a great medical team so that an immense area of covering millions could receive the healthcare they need.
Next project: We’re initiating an exciting project to build a public Children’s Cancer hospital; this critical project needs to happen. 9/10-kids diagnosed with Cancer in Kenya are tragically dying. This is a travesty that needs to be addressed. The total construction cost is expected to be $3m+
Schools: We’re educating the future leaders of Africa, helping them thrive in new schools
- Built 6 new Government accredited public schools, with the next 3 in planning stages
- Providing top-tier teachers, books, and materials needed to learn
- Helping children develop a global perspective with computers and internet
Shoe4Africa’s humble beginning’s started with the belief that anyone is capable of anything if they have the opportunity. It started with the idea that shoes were a basic necessity to avoid disease and to walk to school. The problem we found was that schools were either dilapidated or non-existent so we began to right this wrong too. In 2010 we opened our first school and we now have around 1,600 kids getting free quality education in our Shoe4Africa schools. Each school is brand new, staffed with great teachers, and is hooked with a local world class mentor. We also introduce laptops and e-readers so these beautiful children learn in a traditional sense as well as keep pace with the developing world.
Next project: We have 2 more schools slated; funding for the first five is completed but funds are still needed for the 7th. Donate here to this cause (DONATE button)
Future: We are focusing on building schools within the hospital catchment area so that our brothers and sisters can take the Big Steps Forward to a healthier, more educated, and self-sustaining community. Dr. Kibosia, who helped revolutionize public health in Kenya, states that early education is critical and the basics of health education can be immense in saving lives; we listened and want to bring all our students to the Hospital for early training!
We expect to build 10 additional schools between now and 2030. Donations, from small to a (complete) school, will make this dream happen.
We invest the money we raise into projects that we ourselves oversee and direct- we never pay another “team” of partners on the ground (that doubles the costs). Our team thus makes sure, firsthand, that every dollar is accounted for and we audit, and are audited, every step of the way.
Where our projects are:
The Needs – Our Focus:
Healthcare: In 2013, an estimated 6.3 million children under five died, 2.9 million of them in the WHO African Region. This is equivalent to five children under 5 years of age dying every minute. Two thirds of these deaths can be attributed to preventable causes. (world health 2013)
Education: Half of the youth in Sub Saharan Africa are out of school (worldbank 2015). And an estimated 31 million girls of primary school age and 32 million girls of lower secondary school age were out of school in 2013 according to UNICEF 2013. Clearly education is the foundation of progress and it is sorely needed.
Empowerment: Most of the billion+ people in Africa have never seen the outside world nor been influenced by its progress. We focus on creating new knowledge AND belief in one’s ability through programs that empower Africans to learn and take greater control of their lives to make a better future for them, their families, their community, and the world. See more….
Can you help? Email us: toby@shoe4africa.org
Our Project Makers Are Our Heroes – Thank You!
There are tons of ways you can get involved with our projects, from holding a lemonade stand (thanks Miss Sharp), to a basketball tourney (thanks Alex Sweeney), to running with us (thanks Team Shoe4Africa!), to playing tennis with us (thanks Zee), to a simple $10 donation (that’s three school books!), to knitting teddy bears for patients (thanks Loredana)… and the more You, the kind donors, have made Shoe4Africa happen… and with you we can make miracles happen.
Melina Buck who has ran for Shoe4Africa seven times in the NYC marathon; thank you!
Check out our wall of donors; linked here
We are powered by Donors. Donors are our partners and as such deserve that all funds make the biggest impact possible. Every single dollar counts; don’t think your donation won’t make a difference, it will.
What we don’t do – pay anyone a six figure salary. In fact the total of all our salaries are less than $50,000 after tax. We don’t have an office in NYC – we work from our apartments to save costs. We don’t pay other charities (‘partners’) to do the work we do as many ‘middlemen charities’ are starting to do. Else wouldn’t it be more honest to just tell you to donate directly to that partner that they (obviously) trust and spare the inefficiency of double-pay?
What we do? Critical work; Save African Kids Lives.
You can help in many ways. Sharing our story – maybe you are in the health/education world, maybe you know someone in a foundation (maybe you are in a foundation). Introductions are the beginnings to wonderful journeys. Of course plain and simple donations work great (hit the red donate button), and there is a campaign funding – starting a campaign is a perfect way of you joining the journey with us.
- Start a Campaign using our totally secure website. It literally takes two minutes to set up a campaign and we will customize the amount you wish to raise. It could be for anything, biking, juggling, a birthday) to get an idea. eMail Us and we will get you started.
- Tell people why you are helping Shoe4Africa. One partner told his friends, ‘I was truly fed up by overpaid charity workers saying they were helping my fellow Africans. So I looked into Shoe4Africa. Turns out my uncle, Peter Njenga, had taken his daughter to this charity’s hospital. He gave me the thumbs up. They are truly saving lives daily. I checked out a number of other charities and the bottom line was this charity works.
- Shout about it – send your page to all your friends, your Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, twitter friends, your spouses friends, work friends – everywhere!
Ever thought your donation won’t make a difference? Think again and join Team Shoe4Africa. Please be the voice for these kids; they need you!
“There are countless charities to choose from, and many do good work. But a precious few can say they dramatically improve or save people’s lives in a cost-effective way, and then back up their claims with hard data.” N. Pitney.
The Shoe4Africa foundation, through the Children’s Hospital and through its public schools, is making a dramatic difference in the lives of many African kids. Every Shoe4Africa project has been built in a sustainable and extremely cost effective fashion.
High School/Uni Ambassadors
WHAT: S4A Ambassador School/Uni Chapter
WHO: Young adults who are passionate about Saving and Empowering African Kids lives.
HOW: Gather your friends and make time to start this project.
WHEN: No better time than right now!
GET INVOLVED
Thank you so much for your interest in starting a chapter and to be on the Shoe4Africa network.
- Find a faculty adviser and form a leadership board
- Find a related club at school/community and partner with them!
- Become an official school organization (talk to your teachers who can help)
- Hold weekly club meetings – engagement is key
- Stay up-to-date with all things by liaising with our staff
- Plan a fundraiser event that is fun for you to do
- Raise awareness about Shoe4Africa and our mission
- Post on social media, get us hashtagged #shoe4africa
- Build a Shoe4Africa Team
- Make memories to treasure
What YOU Can Do!
Color-Run or Run-A-Thon! Host a school Run-a-Thon! Runners and walkers of the event can collect pledges prior to the event and then earn money for every lap/mile/etc. completed on the day of the event. Hosting a Run-a-Thon would not only benefit Shoe4Africa, but also allow the students an opportunity to be directly involved in helping to support other students receive the gift of education. If you can’t run, host a nigh/day of sports benefiting Shoe4Africa
The proceeds of the ‘home-baked’ refreshments, along with donation boxes, can really help us
Try and challenge another school or college, or a series of schools!
Our German chapter found that the whole school got involved, the sports department, the head teacher, parents and kids and they raised a ton of money with sponsored laps!
Princeton University holding a color run for Shoe4Africa!
Local Shop Donations! See if a local shop (coffee shop, restaurant, etc.) would be interested in donating a percentage of their sales for the day. REMEMBER! Be strategic about the dates of these fundraisers. Think about what people are buying at their time of year- is it warm, will they want frozen yogurt, etc. You can approach the subject by promising the local establishment that you will send more traffic their way on the day of the fundraiser. Or, you can get creative! If the shop doesn’t want to donate a percentage of sale, ask them if you can sell some Komera swag from a small table in their shop. Where there is a will, there is a way
Social Media Stars! Social media is really important to Shoe4Africa, it is our voice to the community. It allows us to introduce shoe4africa to those who otherwise would never know about us and our programs. It allows us to increase our donor base, which greatly impacts our ability to provide better programming to the scholars.
For all, and for everyone. Get Involved — along side us!
Host a Project Meeting, group run, or an intimate event in your city about Shoe4Africa, and we will see if we can get our Founder and CEO, Toby to come.
