FEET FEAT
LISA JAMES/Press Borah Elementary School third-grader Chloe Murphy takes a walk in her new shoes as volunteer Wayne Juneau, center, and counselor Adam Foote look on. Juneau, who lost the use of his legs in a dirt bike accident when he was 21, recently had a dream of putting on new shoes and running again. The dream has motivated him to put his volunteering efforts towards providing children at Borah Elementary School with new shoes. Juneau's GoFundMe Page, Soles for Kids, has helped get the program going, but he says he still has trouble getting shoes in enough variety of sizes.
LISA JAMES/Press Brooklyn Wells hands Wayne Juneau a classmate's shoe with a blown out sole as Parker Gittel, left, and Skyliss Vallejo watch at Borah Elementary School on Monday.Juneau, who lost the use of his legs in a dirt bike accident when he was 21, recently had a dream of putting on new shoes and running again. The dream has motivated him to put his volunteering efforts towards a program to provide children at Borah Elementary School, where he volunteers, with new shoes. Juneau's GoFundMe Page, Soles for Kids, has helped get the program going, but he says he still has trouble getting s…
LISA JAMES/Press Wayne Juneau, who lost the use of his legs in a dirt bike accident when he was 21, recently had a dream of putting on new shoes and running again. The dream has motivated him to put his volunteering efforts towards a program to provide children at Borah Elementary School, where he volunteers, with new shoes. Juneau's GoFundMe Page, Soles for Kids, has helped get the program going, but he says he still has trouble getting shoes in enough variety of sizes.
LISA JAMES/Press Wayne Juneau sits behind a pile of shoes with blown out soles from Borah Elementary School students on Monday. Juneau recently dreamed of the joyous feeling of putting on new shoes, something he has not felt since he lost the use of his legs at the age of 21. The dream inspired him to start Soles for Kids, a program to provide children at Borah Elementary School, where he volunteers, with new shoes.
LISA JAMES/PressTattered and torn shoes with blown out soles from Borah Elementary School students are being collected as children in need receive new shoes from the Soles for Kids program. Soles for Kids was started by Wayne Juneau, a volunteer at the school, who saw a need.
LISA JAMES/Press Tattered and torn shoes with blown out soles from Borah Elementary School students are being collected as children in need receive new shoes from the Soles for Kids program. Soles for Kids was started by Wayne Juneau, a volunteer at the school, who saw a need.
LISA JAMES/Press Tattered and torn shoes with blown out soles from Borah Elementary School students are being collected as children in need receive new shoes from the Soles for Kids program. Soles for Kids was started by Wayne Juneau, a volunteer at the school, who saw a need.
A 7-year-old boy stumbled into the room, the soles of his shoes torn away from his feet.
The soles caught and dragged on the ground, making it difficult for the boy to walk, let alone run and play with the other kids.
He was in obvious need of a new pair of shoes, especially if he wanted to go on the upcoming field trip to Turnbull Wildlife Refuge without worrying about falling. His mom didn’t notice and he didn’t see her often enough to ask. He had no choice but to make do with his only pair of tennis shoes.
He’s not alone, either. This is a reality for many students at Borah Elementary in Coeur d’Alene, but maybe not for long.
Wayne Juneau, a volunteer at Borah, teamed up with Borah’s school counselor in December to raise money to buy shoes for kids in need.
Juneau started volunteering at Borah about five years ago. He worked with teachers in the classroom and noticed many of the students had shoes that were falling apart.
“I’d see these kids come in with shoes that were in bad shape and it was wintertime,” Juneau said. “What are they going to do? They don’t have shoes to replace them.”
Juneau said that experience had remained in the back of his mind. Last December, he decided to do something about it.
JUNEAU’S JOURNEY
A motorcycle accident paralyzed Juneau when he was 21 years old. He’s been in a wheelchair since, but that hasn’t slowed him down much. Juneau volunteers with community organizations such as Union Gospel Mission and St. Vincent de Paul to help the homeless and needy in the community.
“In December, I had a dream of me riding a motorcycle, skiing, swimming, running, jumping; how it felt to have shoes and how it felt to walk,” Juneau said. “It felt really good.”
Before his accident, Juneau knew what it felt like to go to school in shoes that were hardly functional.
“I came from a family with six brothers and sisters, and I was one of the younger ones, so I got the hand-me-downs,” Juneau said. “So when I did get a new pair of shoes... I knew I could run faster, I knew I could jump higher.”
Those experiences coupled with his volunteering at the school and witnessing the demand for shoes motivated Juneau to contact Borah’s volunteer coordinator. That’s how Juneau and Adam Foote, Borah’s school counselor, became a team.
“Kids come to school in these old, beat-up shoes, and they don’t have boots and their feet get soaking wet,” Foote said. “They’re cold and you can’t dry them out.”
Juneau partnered with Borah mostly because of his past with them, but also because he knew that’s where serious need was.
“We have incredibly high poverty levels, way higher than any school in the district,” Foote said.
WHY SHOES?
The Coeur Group, a collection of businessmen in the community who donate their time to local causes, built cabinets and donated clothes to Borah to help kids in need back in 2012. However, Foote said they have plenty of clothes; it’s the shoes they have problems with.
“Hats, mittens, jackets, gloves are all easy to come by. Shoes are always another issue,” he said.
Foote and Juneau both said shoes are in high demand because they’re often expensive, and kids wear them out quickly.
Juneau created a program called “Souls 4 Kids,” where people can provide funds or donate new or gently used shoes to distribute to students at Borah. Juneau buys the shoes himself from various stores in the area, looking for the best deals so he can buy as many pairs as possible.
To spread awareness, Foote started taking pictures of the shoes kids came to school wearing after he gave them a new pair. He posted those photos on Facebook. Rather than throwing the shoes away, Foote wanted to recruit a local artist to create a display portraying the intense need for shoes these kids have.
“We arrange them in a way that we can say, ‘This is what poverty looks like,’ this is what our students are dealing with,” Foote said.
To support “Souls 4 Kids,” donations can be sent to https:// www.gofundme.com/souls4kids, or new or gently used shoes that are youth size 1 through 6 can be donated directly to Borah Elementary School. Socks also are needed.
“I want to give these kids new shoes so they can fit in and feel like the others,” Juneau said before adding: “and run faster and jump higher.”