Attend school, get pair of shoes
When Christian Dorsey and Jason Johnson attended school in Detroit, the district encouraged students to show up on Count Day by having a pizza party.
The duo, who own a sneaker store in Midtown, decided to kick it up a notch.
Every high school student who shows up on Count Day, when the attendance is used to determine the school system's state funding for the year, will receive a free pair of Nikes from Bob's Classic Kicks.
That's every student in grades 9 through 12 in Detroit Public Schools.
Which means we're talking about 14,000 to 17,000 pairs of sneakers. For free.
"We wanted to give back to the community, so why not do what we do best — which is shoes," said Dorsey, 30.
The store is trying to offset the cost by soliciting donations from local businesses. It began contacting possible sponsors several weeks ago but didn't want to say how much has been raised so far.
The businesses would be invited to join the store when it distributes the sneakers, said Dorsey. The store will close for a weekend and turn the giveaway into a festival-like event.
"They say it takes a village, so we hope the village will chip in," said Dorsey.
In 2008, the store hosted a party for high school seniors who couldn't afford to attend their proms. The event included food donated by local businesses.
The store, which opened eight years ago, isn't sure which type of Nikes it will be giving away.
But they won't be cheap, said Dorsey. They will be black and low-cut with a retail price ranging from $80 to $125.
Students who attend Count Day on Oct. 3 will receive a voucher from their school that they can then exchange at the store.
Midtown resident Glen Schmidt, 33, said he wishes he still was in school.
If the Jackson high school he attended had offered free sneakers on Count Day, he might have showed up once in a while, joked Schmidt.
"That sounds pretty good," he said. "Air Jordans?"
No, the store won't be offering Nike's top-selling brand, but it will be giving out lots of others.
And it wants to make the giveaway an annual event.
From The Detroit News:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120814/SCHOOLS/208140349#ixzz26D8Ec2Wz