Drake Danner ’14 and Scott Diekema ’14 have raised nearly $1000 through their non-profit organization Shoes 4 Change, which helps children born with clubfoot, a disease that causes potentially crippling deformities in babies’ feet.
Danner and Diekema raise money by purchasing and reselling new, limited edition sneakers. Seventy percent of their proceeds are donated to miraclefeet, a non-profit organization aimed to treat children with clubfoot through an affordable and non-surgical procedure known as the Ponseti Method. Each procedure costs around $250 according to miraclefeet.org, the organization’s website.
The Ponseti procedure does not require major surgery. The child’s legs are corrected over time with casts, which are worn for five to seven weeks. The child then wears a brace while sleeping for up to four years after the casts have been removed, according to the miraclefeet website.
“The method that miraclefeet provides enables children to do much more than they otherwise could and is much more simple than the complicated, ineffective and expensive surgical method previously used,” Diekema said.
The remaining 30 percent of the proceeds that is not donated supports the operating costs of Shoes 4 Change, according to Danner. They use the money for shipping and purchasing shoes.
Both Danner and Diekema had experience reselling and collecting shoes for profit before conceiving Shoes for Change in the winter of their Lower year.
“I thought we could use this opportunity to make a difference. It’s a lucrative market, and we hope to turn it into something meaningful,” said Diekema.
Not only do Danner and Diekema hope to earn money to donate to miraclefeet, but they also hope to raise awareness about clubfoot. Diekema first learned about miraclefeet from a close family friend who is the organization’s director.
Dr. Ignacio Ponseti, who developed the Ponseti Method at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa where Diekema lives, also influenced Diekema’s interest in miraclefeet and clubfoot.
“There are a lot of people who wouldn’t know anything about it because they are just interested in sneakers. But when they come to us, they are not only purchasing great shoes, but also familiarizing themselves with this subject,” said Danner.
“We are trying to raise awareness about clubfoot and miraclefeet because the Ponseti method is such a simple and effective treatment method for the disease,” said Diekema.
After collecting enough funds, purchasing the shoes and developing the project’s website, shoes4change.org, Danner and Diekema launched the project in June 2012. The two have since sold 17 pairs of shoes and have received multiple donations.
“It was a very slow start. We launched after working through last winter and last spring to get ready. But recently, it’s picked up, and we’ve donated over $950 so far,” said Danner.
The shoe prices range from $100 to $535, according to the Shoes 4 Change website. They mostly sell Air Jordan’s, but they also sell Nike shoes, according to Diekema.
“Sometimes we have to wait in line in front of a store for up to four hours until it opens to secure a pair of shoes. There is a very high demand because so many people want them, and they are released in such limited numbers,” said Diekema. “There are a lot of people that can’t get them, and they turn to the secondary market, to stores such as ours, to get their hands on these shoes.”
Certain events, such as the NBA All-Star Weekend or the Olympics, often trigger releases of shoes that are more popular. Many basketball players, for example, release a “holiday” edition basketball shoe after Christmas, said Diekema.
Although the project hasn’t been brought to the Andover community, Danner and Diekema plan on expanding the project by involving more students.
“We’ve recently brought Rome Arnold [’14] on to help manage funds, and we hope to bring in more people from the Andover community to expand the project and to once again create more awareness on this topic,” said Danner.
