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The Star Online Article: Help Sponsor Black Shoes for needy students.
Abaro is encouraging corporations to sponsor the first black school shoes underprivileged children. What began as a small-scale corporate social responsibility (CSR) effort has turned into an annual initiative benefitting thousands of school-going children. The Abaro school shoes brand under Resta Enterprise Sdn Bhd tackles one of most visible signs of poverty among children by giving them new school shoes to attend school with dignity and joy. <Read more here>
“I came across newspaper articles reporting about how poor children in Laos walk barefooted or wear ill-fitting shoes to school,” said Teri Soh, Executive Director of Resta Enterprise Sdn Bhd. “Despite their young age, their feet had severe calluses with cuts and bruises to show. This health hazard adds on to a myriad of challenges these poor kids have to face.”
In Laos, 23.3% of its people live below their national poverty line, according to the World Bank. Many families are unable to afford adequate clothing.
“For low income families, shoes are one of the most expensive items to buy. Having to choose between feeding their kids and giving them proper shoes, we all know what the answer will be,” Soh said.
That is where Soh and her colleagues try to fill the gap. Since 2016, they have given out close to 21,000 pairs of ABARO school shoes to poor and needy children in Laos and Malaysia through corporate partnerships and their own corporate social responsibility initiative.
“Shoes are a basic necessity that is essential for the school day. When we give shoes to a child, we give so many other things including hope, dignity and joy. A new pair of shoes can be life-changing for kids in need. School staff and parents tell us that students with new proper shoes show an increase in self-esteem, improved behaviour, higher attendance and participation in classes.”
After numerous successful shoes-giving projects with non-profit organisations and corporate partners, the ABARO school shoes brand is now synonymous with charity giving. From collating thousands of feet sizes to distributing shoes accurately, Soh’s team is well versed in the whole shoe-giving charity process having learnt and developed new processes through trial and error over the years.
“Whenever we carry out large-scale projects, it is always challenging to collect accurate shoe sizes for thousands of kids in one go, especially for our remote Laos projects. Fortunately, I have a passionate and dedicated team who are always churning out new ideas and solutions. We now use our very own reusable size chart to ease the measurement and subsequently distribution process,” shared Soh.
The company’s unique experience and track record in shoes-giving have made them the go-to organisation for Malaysian corporates and even the government intending to give back to the community. Their previous charity partners include Felda Malaysia, Sunway Group Berhad, PBB Group Berhad, Laos My Home foundation, Penang Educare Program and local and overseas non-profit organisations.
“Our shoes have touched many lives, but we are far from being done. Our business model incorporates charity-giving as part of our operations. This means the more ABARO school shoes are sold, the more shoes we can give out to needy children.”
On top of the company’s CSR promise to give out 2000 pairs of shoes every year, Soh also highly welcomes corporates or any organisation to partner with them in order to reach out to more underprivileged children.
“No child should ever have to go to school without proper shoes,” Soh said. “Together, we can help kids improve their self-esteem and participation at school by eliminating one of poverty’s most visible and belittling marks.”
