An Oak Cliff non profit, helping high school students get new shoes and a new state of mind. They're this week's KRLD Difference Makers.
They're self proclaimed sneakerheads and taking their love of sneakers to encourage students.
"It started out as just us giving out shoes. My cofounder and I are really big sneakerheads. We really like shoes and he's a teacher and he noticed that a lot of his students had really worn out shoes. Kids can be mean, especially high schoolers and you're really trying to gain confidence at that point in your life," Alejandra Zendejas said. "So we just started trying to help out with that, like not only getting them shoes but making sure they are stylish shows that are "in" right now that they would like to wear."
Alejandra Zendejas and her co-founder Jesse Acosta created their nonprofit, Pasos for Oak Cliff, pasos means steps in Spanish and giving away sneakers was just the first step.
"From there we started fundraising for scholarships. We gave out $10,000 in 2021. This year we gave out $15,000. We also just launched our summer program. We were looking to close those gaps that covid caused in math and literacy. The kids also got to create their own sneakers. We wanted to do some math and literacy but also make it fun for them," she said.
Alejandra says not only is she excited for the students receiving their shoes but also for their parents. They get a lot of comments from very thankful parents and Alejandra says she knows her mom would have been grateful for the help should they have ever been in that situation.
We're proud to call Alejandra Zendejas and Pasos for Oak Cliff this week's KRLD Difference Makers.
"It still feels like the first time every time I see a kid get shoes from us," Alejandra said. "Their face lights up."
If you want to volunteer or donate money or gently used sneakers, you can visit pasosforoc.org.
If you know someone making a difference in the community, send us an email at differencemaker@krld.com.
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