MAA Student Steps Up Successful Shoe Drive

Pass by the sea of smiles and shin guards covering a local school field on an early fall evening, and it’s obvious that NCSD kids from kindergarten to high school get a kick out of playing soccer.  Or peek among the balls bouncing off bleachers inside a crowded elementary school gym to see how much our youth volleyball participation continues to spike.

Yet as many of our young athletes spend their early evenings taking a hands-on approach to improving their skills, Milwaukie Academy of the Arts student Anya Brown-Eaton is instead focused on their feet.  The 14-year-old has made it her mission to make sure student athletes in all grades have access to comfortable cleats or court shoes in their size.

“I’ve actually seen over the years of playing with my little brother at parks that some kids have worn down shoes,” said the ambitious freshman.  “So I told my mom who said there’s a need at the Wichita Center, and that’s where I got my idea.”

That idea for Brown-Eaton, who admits she isn’t much of an athlete herself, was to conduct her own athletic shoe drive at a local park in late August.  With a little help from her family spreading the word, she spent a recent Saturday hoping to gather at least a handful of gently used pairs to donate to NCSD’s Wichita Center for Family & Community.

“We ended up with 36!” exclaimed the new high schooler, who admitted she was pleasantly surprised after only spending a few days hanging signs and talking to friends about it at school.  “I wanted to give back because I’ve gotten so much myself from the Wichita Center, including the outfit I’m wearing today,” she laughed.

But Brown-Eaton’s ambition to help others is certainly no laughing matter.  After a successful first shoe drive, what does the former Scouters Mountain Elementary Coyote and Happy Valley Middle School Heron have laced up for the future?

“I’ll probably do a different kind of drive for Wichita besides shoes,” she said while lifting one of her heavy boxes of donations onto the counter.  “Because people in our community need different things every day, and I know I can make an impact.”

And even if her next community service drive doesn’t involve shoes, there’s no doubt Brown-Eaton will put her heart and sole into it.