Bangkok--2 Jul--Tesco Lotus
Get Kids to School Year 3 has been a runaway success from its starting point of Tesco Lotus CEO John Christie and other executives walking barefoot to make the point of what it is like to go without shoes. Both customers and Tesco Lotus staff have been exceptionally generous to mark a celebration of the 60th birthday of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn which fell on April 2, 2015.
A viral clip of schoolchildren shook up the online world with its sad storyline of a child looking at his friend with shoes who could play football, who then gives away his shoes, so people could see the happiness of the child who had never worn shoes.
In just a short space of time after the project opened, the total of customer donations surged through the mechanisms of buying a donated pair of shoes for only 99 baht or just gifting an unspecified sum, at the checkouts of over 1,800 Tesco Lotus stores nationwide, eventually ballooning to 22,390 pairs of shoes and exceeding the initial target of 16,000 pairs.
Tesco Lotus Head of Communications and Sustainability Charkrit Direkwattanachai said, "Tesco Lotus would like to thank all of our customers around the country that joined in donating shoes to educationally underprivileged children. Over half of children aged 7 to 15 in remote rural areas walk to school in bare feet, putting themselves at risk of foot injury and animal bites in the rainy season.
"Tesco Lotus sees the importance of school shoes which will help kids with a better future. This is why we launched "Get Kids to School year 3" to help children at schools of the Pra Dabos Foundation in southern border provinces and other schools in poor areas around Thailand. Our drive has been successful as we have been able to donate 22,390 pairs of shoes, meaning that 22,390 children now have shoes to wear to school in this new semester."
The Tesco Lotus team has been on the road to distribute shoes to children nationwide, and has been rewarded with grateful smiles.
"When I got my shoes, I felt like a proper student," said Narumon Thamthuam, a Secondary Level 2 girl at Ratchaprachanukhro 33 School in Lopburi. "I used to wear only flip-flops, so I am very happy. I'd like to thank Tesco Lotus and the kind people who have given me shoes to wear."
It was the same for Patcharamai Songsawatwong, a Primary Level 4 student of Ratchaprachanukhro 33 School who is a hill tribe girl from Petchaboon. She said, "Usually I don't have school shoes. I have just one pair of flip-flops, which I wear everywhere, including school. Sometimes I go barefoot. When I got my new pair of shoes, I was very happy, because it was the first pair I have ever had in my life. I promise I will be a good student."
Oomboon Sukhakul, a Primary Level 4 student of Moo Ban Dek San Rak Nursery School said, "When I went barefoot, it would hurt, but I was so happy once I had shoes to wear, as I would not have to hurt my feet again."
Shoes majorly from this project have made their way to children in the southern border area and also underprivileged children at schools all over the country.
"Just seeing the children's smiles makes me believe it is not just Tesco Lotus who is happy, but all of our customers around Thailand who donated amounts large and small. They should see the big smile of our country's future," concluded Charkrit.