Causes: Advocacy, Children and Youth
Our founder, Mr. Ken Benckwitz and myself, Sebastian Rumler are shoe fanatics. Mr. Nike and Mr. Adidas. We have a passion for shoes, athletic shoes to be exact. One day back in 2018, Ken came to me and said: ‘I want to do something in our community. I want to give back and share my passion for shoes, do something good with it. I just want some kids to get some shoes.’ What first started as something that sounded great and fun, has now turned into something so very serious and passionate for both of us. So much so that we started to involve our families, friends, co-workers, and neighbors within our community. In November 2018, we started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money so that we would be able to get some kids new shoes. Our goal was to raise $500 for my birthday. We raised $1,200 and were able to provide 35 homeless 1st and 2nd graders within the SISD school district with a brand new pair of sneakers. But we didn’t want to stop there - so that day, epkicks was born. After we completed that campaign and in talking with school districts, orphanages, and many other institutions, we realized how great the need of shoes in our community really is. We decided to continue our journey and help even more kids.
We have since held annual 5K/1Mile race events in the past three years and were able to raise money. With the money raised, we have made various shoe donations to the following:
