Yessenia Calderon never imagined new shoes could make such a difference.
“They were just so excited,” Calderon said about her daughters opening new boxes of tennis shoes from the Shoes for Students program. “To see their faces, and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m getting shoes.’ It was nice to see that.”
Life has been hectic for the family since the oldest child, Zeki, almost died in a go-kart accident in July 2022. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and multiple broken bones, and required full-time care. Calderon’s youngest boy was just 2 years old at the time, and the mother of six left her job selling solar panels. That meant the family would have to get by on one salary; Calderon said she worried about the strain on her husband, Jerry, who works repairing and renovating apartment buildings.
Calderon said even small things made a big impact while her son was in critical condition. “One of my daughters, she was growing (out of clothes) every three months,” Calderon said. “It was hard. And then someone decided to give the kids some shoes.”
Shoes for Students is an annual campaign to raise money to buy shoes for K-12 students in need. The Foundation for Palm Springs Unified School District organizes the fundraising effort and runs the massive shoe give-away. The nonprofit is aiming to provide 2,500 pairs of shoes before the start of the 2024-2025 school year. They want to help more families like the Calderons—and they need the community to join in.
New shoes are distributed to students in August, right around the time families are buying school supplies. The link to donate is secure.qgiv.com/for/shoesforstudents, and every $100 qualifies for a match.
Foundation director Ellen Goodman said PSUSD Student Support Services identified shoes as a critical need throughout the school district. “Shoes are the No. 1, biggest request that we get,” Goodman said.
Many residents of the Coachella Valley don’t realize how much poverty is in the region. “It’s really amazing, but out of all of the schools and all the school districts in Riverside County, Palm Springs Unified School District has the highest poverty rate,” Goodman said.
PSUSD includes 28 schools in six different communities; the student enrollment is over 21,000—and a staggering 97 percent of students are considered “socioeconomically disadvantaged” by the state of California. Nearly a third of students are English-language learners; 12 percent are homeless.
Jo-Anne Ebensteiner is the marketing chair for the PSUSD Foundation. She said many people are shocked when they hear those numbers.
“It’s a very wealthy community,” Ebensteiner said. “It’s the population that lives here year-round that these (wealthy) communities are built on. I think we need to find a way to shine a light on the kind of heroes of our community who actually have children here, (who) need greater support than seems obvious at first blush.”
Created in its current form in 2013, the PSUSD Foundation has mission to “close gaps in public and state funding by providing a sustainable stream of private-sector funds to support” the students of PSUSD. It works with businesses, individual investors, teachers, parents and community leaders/givers to provide a “sustainable stream of private-sector funds” to support “the arts, new technologies, college readiness and other ‘extras’ that prepare students for a future tomorrow (that) must be privately funded today.”
Three full-time PSUSD Foundation staff positions are funded by the district. With no administrative overhead for the nonprofit, 100 percent of the funds raised go directly to student programs, Ebensteiner said. It’s a unique model.
“There aren’t a lot of foundations that support school districts,” she said. “If we’re going to try to get these kids prepared for a future that’s very high-tech and requires a lot of creative and critical thinking, they need more than just the basics that tax dollars cover.”
Some of the innovative educational programs supported by the foundation include eSports, robotics, an automotive careers academy, a sports institute, wellness centers, a Native studies curriculum, college scholarships and mentoring, and musical-theater training.
With August just around the corner, the PSUSD Foundation is making the last push for funding for Shoes for Students. The district only buys new shoes. Converse is a partner, and shoes are purchased with style and basic colors in mind. The rollout is a major operation; someone, or perhaps several people, will get to wear the lace-up tennis shoe costume, courtesy of Converse; it will put a smile on the grumpiest of faces.
New shoes lift spirits—that’s what a recent study at Texas Christian University found. Sam Sayed studied the effects of receiving a new pair of athletic shoes on self-efficacy among underprivileged youth; the results showed significant increases in students’ academic, athletic and social engagement.
Ebensteiner didn’t need to consult a study; she’s seen the positive effects up close. “We choose to do the 2,500 (pairs), because that’s how many homeless kids we have.”PSUSD Foundation director Ellen Goodman
“This happens to be one of those programs that we actually have hands-on involvement with,” Ebensteiner said. “We’re actually distributing shoes, working with students, putting them on their feet, making sure they’re the right size. So it’s kind of neat, because it’s a very tangible thing. In this case, we get to come face to face with students and see their reaction, which is really enjoyable.”
Goodman looks forward to the day when the district can bank a couple hundred pairs of shoes for growing feet—but that day is not here yet.
“We have about a 12 percent homeless population,” Goodman said. “Some people get homes while they are in school, and then others become homeless while they’re in school, so there’s this constant need for shoes year-round. We’ve been trying, little by little, to build a reserve. We choose to do the 2,500 (pairs), because that’s how many homeless kids we have. We haven’t put into place any system or campaign for us to get a surplus, but it would surely be helpful if we had an extra 500 pairs of shoes throughout the school year that we could constantly be giving out.”
Yessenia Calderon said she hasn’t told her kids yet to expect new shoes this year. “I wasn’t sure if the program would come around again,” she said. “I normally surprise them. They love that.”
The younger Calderons are 14, 10, 7 and 4—and Yessenia said they all need new sizes since last year. They’re part of the homeschool program via the Desert Learning Academy, and the family is managing, living off just her husband’s salary.
Zeki’s condition has improved somewhat since the horrible accident. He talks about wanting to join his sister Jasmine, 17, when she crosses the stage at commencement in June 2025, but Yessenia doesn’t know if that will happen. Doctors say Zeki is losing his vision and will require multiple surgeries to walk again—but his mom is hopeful that he can earn a certificate of completion for high school.
She hopes Shoes for Students can expand. She knows other families who could benefit.
“It makes a big difference,” said Calderon. “It either makes the outfit, or it doesn’t, right?”
She remembers the joy that a new gifted pair of tennis shoes can bring—a small kindness that goes a long way.
“When you know there are so many things that sometimes go wrong, to know there are still people out there looking out for you—sometimes it might not be a big thing, but for us it’s a blessing,” she said.
The Foundation for Palm Springs Unified School District is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that raises money to support educational initiatives not covered by federal and state funding. To donate to Shoes for Students, go to secure.qgiv.com/for/shoesforstudents. For information on other programs supported by the PSUSD Foundation, visit www.psusdfoundation.net.
