Sarah Voelkl
New York, NY (USA)
Role(s):
Founder/Owner/Principal
Heel Your Sole
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Startup
Location:
New York
Industry:
Non Profit
Year Founded:
2009
Number Employees:
1-10 people
Description:
About Us
At Heel Your Sole, Inc. we create a platform for all at-risk, poverty stricken children to succeed. We provide in person, in school volunteering along with continued mentoring for all youth enrolled in our organization. Our company design uses grass roots volunteering and mentoring to grow successfully. Each volunteer that comes into the school needs to refer at minimum one additional person to Heel Your Sole, Inc. We want to create a ripple effect in each community we service. Start with an initial splash of local volunteers and schools, frequent message reinforcement and loyal support from brand ambassadors. From there, each positive association or interaction continues to expand throughout the community. As a company, we don’t want to become just a partner to the schools and children we aid. We strive to become family.
Classroom Curriculum
Heel Your Sole, Inc. will be visiting classrooms in low income areas free of charge to encourage short and long term goal setting. Using games, arts and crafts and other creative programs we will gain a better understanding of each child, build their self esteem and discuss how they can reach and attain each individual goal they set forth through tailored action plans.
In addition, every child in each classroom we visit will receive a free pair of sneakers- no strings attached. According to the Children’s Foot Health Register, “around 70% of foot problems come from wearing the wrong footwear or ill-fitting shoes. The majority of these are caused by ill-fitting footwear worn as a child.” If putting food on the table is a daily struggle, impoverished children undoubtedly do not receive the proper footwear they deserve. Most poor children must go to school without the proper footwear. Holes in their shoes, worn down soles, hand-me-down shoes that do not fit properly are all real problems low income youth and families face on a daily basis. This small and mostly unnoticed problem slows learning development and affects academic performance. Heel Your Sole wants to take a simple idea and hopefully help children succeed where otherwise, they might not have. The footprint insignia of this organization is placed on the sole of the sneaker so that when the children walk they see our logo and hopefully remember, "Every Journey Begins with a Single Step."
Mentors Make a Difference
At Heel Your Sole, Inc. we want to support as many children as possible which is why we offer “online mentoring.” We will be able to reach more children and keep a higher frequency of contact between mentor and mentee. (URL removed) is a mentoring network that allows youth to connect and communicate with mentors about life, overcoming hardships and allows them to improve self confidence, self worth and develop ambition and optimism about future opportunities.