For many Sundays now I write about someone who deserves our praise because of what he/she has done or what they stand for. Today is no different. Our man of the day is Kenton Lee., who accomplished something amazing even though it took him six years.
After college this Idahoan decided to take a year off to travel the world. At one point he ended up in Kenya at an orphanage where he noticed that a little girl was literally growing out of her shoes … the front of her shoe had been removed and her toes protruded way beyond the length of the sole. Likewise while in Kenya he observed that many parents could not afford new shoes for the growing feet of their children. After that he had a random idea … what if shoes could expand so as to continue to fit the feet of growing poor children.
Many told him that the idea of an expanding shoe just was not possible, but with the support of family and friends he was able to find a shoe company that would help design a prototype. He then did some fundraising, and established “Because International.” Kenton Lee came up with a mantra , “Small things can make a big difference.”
He raised money to initially to make one-hundred pairs of his expandable shoes, which he took back to Kenya. That was the first time that he was able to put a growing shoe on the foot of a child. It was a huge success and a Kenyon mother repeatedly told him “how important it was!”These shoes can grow five sizes and last for years. Since then Because International has distributed 350,000 pairs of these expandable shoes in 100 countries, mainly in Africa. The shoe is a game-changer for almost 1.5 billion people who need to contend with soil transmitted diseases.
Indeed small things can make a big difference!
Kudos to Kenton Lee.
4/14/24