Image: Jan Somma-Hammel
Ahead of the winter break, ABC7NY reported that a gym at Public School 74 became a surprise shoe shop. Principal Susan Mazzeo told the station that about 50 pupils at the school live in shelters and that it serves a high-poverty community, so any joy the project could bring was welcome. It says the programme has empowered 455 students across four states, training them to run drives, manage logistics and lead in their own communities.
“The shoes represent dignity, confidence, having something comfortable to walk in, even,” he said. Rami Rifi, a Staten Island teenager and founder of the Play Passion Project, is a young philanthropist providing new shoes to children in need through a youth-led nonprofit shoe drive. What began as a wardrobe clear-out has grown into a charitable footwear donation initiative serving schoolchildren, families and communities in New York and across the world. Built by a high school junior, the student-led giving movement collects new and lightly worn pairs, then places them directly with children who need them. It stands as a practical model of teenage community service and ethical charity, powered by dedicated volunteers and local vendors. Every pupil left with new sneakers, snow boots, dress shoes and slides. Rifi planned the send-off with local vendors who filled goodie bags, and children from each grade paraded past Santa before collecting their pairs. For Rifi, the gesture goes beyond footwear. One moment during that first year changed the organisation’s direction, the Play Passion Project website explains. A kindergarten pupil named Gilbert donated his favourite pair of dinosaur boots, and they eventually reached a boy named Christopher in Guatemala. A single pair of shoes connected two children who never met. The episode convinced the team that young people are best placed to carry the work forward, which led to the Youth Empowerment Program. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.
