Teacher Jennifer Jones thought 200 pairs of shoes would be a success

Firefighter David Sakaki was a bit more optimistic — he thought students at his alma mater, Kay Bingham elementary, might get 500 pairs.

Today, there are about 4,500 pairs of shoes in a container, the result of a campaign at the school to collect shoes to send to needy families in Nicaragua.

Sakaki, who has made several trips to the Central American country, said he’s not sure when the container will be shipped out.

The goal is to send two containers — a second one was recently bought — along with four donated firetrucks, so logistics are a bit hard to predict, he said.

When the containers — and Kamloops firefighters and friends who will be heading down to distribute the items — arrive in Nicaragua, they’ll be met by a documentary film crew that works with a British agency, Small Steps.

Amy Hanson, who created the organization, has set a goal for herself — to visit every rubbish heap in the world where children and their families are living and try to help them.

Hanson said her agency delivered several aid projects in Nicaragua last year, recording the events and posting them online at smallstepsproject.org.

“The last one we visited was Chinandega and we planned to go back and deliver there,” Hanson said.

“Then, David [Sakaki] saw the film, collected 4,500 shoes and is shipping them down with other aid.

“So, yes, our cameraman is going to fly over and follow their journey and do drop-offs to the dumps and projects where we have already delivered.”

Jones and her young students will be involved with Hanson’s group, too — and they won’t have to leave their classrooms to do it.

The students are going to get involved with Hanson’s major fundraiser — celebrity shoes.

They’ll be writing to their favourite famous person, asking them to donate a pair of shoes to Small Steps.

Hanson puts them on eBay and sells them, using the money generated to run the agency.

“I hoping they target Justin Bieber,” Hanson said.

“One pair of shoes from him could change the lives of thousands of children.”

There are many

lessons the students have learned, Jones said.

She and other teachers at the school used the collecting and sorting to supplement math lessons.

Students learned more about Nicaragua, about poverty and about helping others.

For Sakaki, the success was particularly sweet because it took him back to his elementary school, something he said was a great feeling.

For Jones, the success went beyond the educational aspects to the simple reality her students learned: Kamloops is a community that cares — and even young children can inspire people to help others.